


Daughter Of The Sea

by Slytherin_vikiss



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 16:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11294799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherin_vikiss/pseuds/Slytherin_vikiss
Summary: Alex grew up thinking she didn't have a father.She then spent years thinking that said father didn't care about her.And then, he only seemed to care when it was convenient.As the years pass, she finds herself torn between her family and the possibility of revenge.





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 

I hope you don’t want to be a demigod, ‘cause let me tell ya’ folks...IT. SUCKS.

Imagine breaking a mirror and actually having seven years of bad luck...well, for a demigod, it was like as if you had broken a full Castle made of mirrors.  You only have certain amount of years to live your life, so in order to restore balance for the million mirrors you broke, the normal level of bad luck multiplies itself over twenty-times.

But hey, we got cool swords.

I remember how I hated my life before coming to Camp Half-blood, but sometimes, I couldn’t help but wanting to go back to that.

True, there was ninety-nine percent of me not living over thirteen if I had stayed in Rochester, 

but I also wouldn’t be in this position, staring death right in the eye. And I’m not talking about Hades.

I’m talking about someone else.

Luke’s eyes used to look at me with adoration, but now they were cold, as if his soul had left his body.

Everyday, I wish I could go back in time and make a different choice. I wish I could go back in time and yell at my stupid self to pay attention to my boyfriend. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from falling in love.

At the same time, I wish i could go back to those happy times, sitting on the woods with Luke’s head on my lap, and freeze my life there.

But time only moves forward, and pretty quickly, which makes it harder to get over something and keep life’s pace.

I should apologize, you must be so confused.

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Alexandria Agapov, and my life turned upside down when my teacher tried to kill me.


	2. I swear, it was an accident...

I didn’t mean to kill my physics teacher.

Yes, that was my worst subject, and yes, my grade didn’t go lower than the “F”, but that was because the system didn’t have anything lower than that.

Still, I wouldn’t kill a person just because I was a disaster in their area of expertise.

I didn’t kill my english teacher for making me read “The Lord of the Flies”, so why would I kill my physics teacher, you may ask?

Well, she started it.

I mean it, Miss Dunbar tried to kill me first, after calling me a hideous spawn.

And mind you, I am a fine specimen,...when I washed my hair properly.

But you’re probably wondering how I got myself in that situation.

I’ll have to ask for your forgiveness, of course you don’t know; so, if you please, allow me to start from the beginning.

 

I’ve never been a normal girl, and the only reason why I didn’t end up locked up in an asylum with a restraining jacket is because I learned to keep my mouth shut after the incident that took place on my sixth birthday.

I had told my mother that Clara’s birthday party had been amazing, with a clown to entertain us and a llama to play with.

For some reason, my mother took it the wrong way, and being a little six year old, I didn’t understand her need to prove to Clara’s parents that she could throw a better party.

She hired the biggest bouncy castle our yard could fit, and a pony.

Most kids were too busy jumping around the bouncy castle, but I stayed with the pony.

The owner of the pony name’s was Phil, he was in his late sixties, and he also laughed at my bad jokes.

Phil asked me to watch over Prince Apple (that was the pony’s name) while he went to relieve himself, and I had taken the task too seriously.

A few of the kids came over and started to pet Prince Apple, while my little hand griped the reins as tight as it could.

“Pff, take your stinkin hands off me, pal”

My green eyes widened, and my neck almost snapped as I turned to look straight into the pony’s eyes.

“Could you tell them to leave me alone, my lady? Their hands are dirty, and I took a bath just this morning”

Nodding slowly, I told the other kids to not get Prince Apple dirty.

“My real name is Edwin”

“Sorry, Mr. Edwin”

“Oh! Don’t apologize, my lady” 

His long face travelled around mine, smelling my hair and tickling my ears. I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Could you,...please,...toss me one of those cupcakes. They look so delicious”

I did as he asked, unwrapping the treat before offering it to him.

“Alexandria!” my mother’s angry voice drained all color of my cheeks, “You can’t give cupcakes to a horse, it’s not healthy for them”

“It’s not healthy for humans either, but they’re so delicious” said Edwin, his tone jovial.

“But he asked me to” I said, as if a talking pony was a normal thing.

The few kids who heard me started to laugh, but my mother went as pale as a ghost.

The next thing I was aware of, was the burning pain in my left cheek.

My eyes were stinging with contained tears, and around me, the kids stopped laughing, and the adults ceased their talk.

They were all staring at us, but my mother didn’t seem to notice.

“Animals. Don’t. Talk.” she muttered through gritted teeth.

That wasn’t the first incident nor the last, but I never spoke of it again, choosing to avoid stables, aquariums and lakes as much as I could.

Then came my step father, Abraham, and  just like my mother, he ignored my existence. I was fine with it. The guy was a jerk.

I wish I could say my life had been mundane, but it wasn’t. I have dyslexia and ADHD, one made reading a nightmare, and the other got me in trouble more often than I would like.

In my thirteen years of life, I had been kicked out of four different schools, and neither of them seemed too eager to take me in. I didn’t blame them, I was a problematic kid with awful grades, my future didn’t seem too bright. I barely passed my classes, and even so, I was a year behind.

History was the only class where I didn’t completely sucked.

I wasn’t brilliant, but I wasn’t helpless either, which is more than I can say for most of my classes.

Having a good teacher always helps, and boy, Mr. Brunner was great. He came to our school right after christmas break, after our previous teacher, Mr. Lawrence, had retired (he had cancer, and decided to spend the remaining of his life with his family). Around that time, also arrived Miss Dunbar, the physics teacher.

Mr Brunner was different. He had the habit of playing games, often coming in class wearing an armor and waving a sword.

Most kids thought him to be weird, but for me, he was the coolest teacher in the world.

Mr. Brunner was also in a wheelchair, and although most people ignored that, there was always some jerk laughing and cracking jokes about him whenever he would pass by. It made me so angry, not even Grover could calm me down.

They also made fun of Grover. He had been transferred at the beginning of term, and had a condition on his legs, which constricted him to walk around with clutches. He liked to joke saying that at least it would spare him from the P.E class. Although, he was pretty fast when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.

He was the second coolest person I had ever met. 

They kept me sane, Grover and Mr. Brunner.

My mother, Maris Agapov barely remembered my existence, and before Grover, I had never had a friend. He was the closest person in my life, he was the only one whom I considered family.

I didn’t know much about my family. My mother told me that her great-grandparents had emigrated from Russia after the revolution, but I didn’t know anything else. 

I didn’t even know who my father was. The last time I asked about him I was ten, and my mother’s face turned red with hatred as she spat three words: “He is dead”

Something in her tone made me believe she didn’t mean physically dead, but I never asked again.

Some days I hated him for leaving me with her, but most days I wanted to believe that he didn’t know I even existed, and that if he knew, he would love me.

I dreamt about him once. I was around three or four, and I was laying in my bed, sick. As I debated between consciousness and unconsciousness, I smelled the sea and felt a warm, calloused hand caressing my forehead.

I had never felt more safe than in that dream,

I wanted to hate him, but then I remembered that silly dream, and my heart would fill with hope.

“Alex?”

I was taken out of my thoughts by the voice of Grover.

I smiled at him as he took a seat next to me, He looked a little old to be twelve years old, but I had never found it strange, after all, my neighbor, Katy, was almost thirty, but she looked way younger.

It was raining, which was good. A lot of people complained about rain, but I loved it. It was a defense mechanism of the earth, and it amazed me how it fought relentlessly against the damage we induced.

“How do you do?” I asked Grover, sharing half my snicker.

He shrugged.

“Not too excited about the trip. You?”

I mimicked his actions, swallowing the sweet before answering.

“I hope is not boring”

Our class was going to the Strasenburgh Planetarium today.

Grover and I shared a look.

_ Yeah, sure. _

* * *

 

It wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be.

The bus ride was quite dull. Most kids were acting like caveman, screaming, grunting and throwing things at each other.

Grover and I sat at the very back, watching the spectacle with open mouths. In the seat in front of me, a boy took a big snot out of his nose, and ate it with a satisfied expression.

Grover’s face turned green, and it took everything in me to not throw up.

Miss Dunbar and Mr. Brunner had given up their efforts to stop the mini war that was taking place, and instead, Mr. Brunner chose to read while Miss Dunbar threw dirty glares in my general direction.

_ I don’t think she likes me. _

We descended the stairs after the stampede, and waited for Mr. Brunner while Miss Dunbar put the rest of the class in a line.

“Are you excited, miss Agapov?” asked Mr Brunner, giving me a warm smile.

I scratched the back of my neck.

“Um,...sure” I lied. 

I would have rather stayed home sleeping than being here with those neanderthals, but I would never let Grover alone in school. They could be as mean as they wanted with me, but I’ll be damned before I let them come close to my friend.

Mr. Brunner laughed, the sound was rich and warm. It made me feel like I was worth something.

“I’m sure you’ll like it”

.There was a guy waiting for us at the entrance. He looked young and happy as he waved at us.

“Welcome to the Stranserburgh Planetarium, kids. There’s an exciting day ahead of us.”

He urged us in before the rain started again.

Just as we were putting on the badges, a shiver ran down my spine. I felt as if someone was watching me.

As subtly as I could, I turned my head to the side and saw a man standing in the parking lot.

He seemed to be on his late twenties. He was tall, and as white as one could be without being considered a ghost. His dark hair reached his shoulders and melted into one with his dark clothes.

Even though he was several meters away from me, I was mesmerized by his stormy eyes. They commanded respect, and I felt the urge of walking towards him and taking a nap at his feet.

“Alex” Mr Brunner’s hard voice brought me back to reality.

He was staring at the man with cold eyes, and behind him, Grover trembled from head to toe.

“Don’t stay behind” said my favourite teacher.

Nodding, I walked besides Grover towards the rest of the class.

I didn’t dare to look back, but I could feel those stormy eyes burning holes in my back all the way to the elevators.

* * *

 

The guide was pretty cool, he really seemed excited about what he talked about.

I was really interested in what he was saying about the conflict between the Iroquois and the europeans, but some of the kids behind me wouldn’t stop laughing and pointing at the small representation of a native american’s home.

“Look at their clothes” laughed Clara, pointing to a middle-aged woman.

“Will you quit it?” I found myself saying. There was nothing wrong with the clothes, so I didn’t understand why they made fun of her. She wasn’t even real.

“Miss Agapov, come with me”

_ Oh, great! I’m getting detention again. _

Miss Dunbar grabbed me by the arm. I tried to get Grover’s attention, but he was too busy searching for food on his backpack to notice, and Mr. Brunner was too immersed in the lesson.

_ That’s just my luck. _

Miss Dunbar grip was too tight, but I didn’t dare to say anything. She lead me down a corridor and inside an empty bathroom.

“Um,...Miss? This is the men’s bathroom” I said with a shaky tone.

The look she gave me could have frozen hell.

“You disgusting spawn” she spat.

My heart stopped. Her voice had dropped several octaves (any male opera singer would kill for her voice) and her eyes seemed to be alight with fire.

“I’m s-s-sorry” I stuttered, starting to sweat “I’ll keep quiet, I promise”

The last thing I needed was to be expelled again, and I knew I was close to cross the line in this school.

She growled. Yes, growled.

“On the Styx you shouldn’t have been born”

I began to slowly back away, but the wall put a halt to my escape.

Miss Dunbar fingers turned to claws, her jacket melted, turning into big, leathery wings.

Maybe that snicker was expired, and I was seeing things.

Her mouth was full of yellow fangs, and even standing over five meters from her, I could feel the awful smell coming from them

_ Yo’, brushing your teeths is important. _

A yelp escapes my throat. I’m sure I’m gonna die today, and I still haden’t watched all the episodes of ‘The Simpsons’

I’m too much of a coward, so I cover my eyes in hopes of not feeling pain in my lasts moments, and that’s when I hear an explosion.

I don’t dare to open my eyes, but I feel something flying across the bathroom. The sound of water splashing fills my senses for a brief second.

Miss Dunbar lays on the ground completely soaked, and she looks even more pissed than before.

“Alex!” Grover’s voice takes my attention.

Mr. Brunner throws something at me, and as I grab it, it expands, turning into a trident. A real one.

Miss Dunbar is racing towards me, and in my panic I don’t think. I rise the trident with both hands in front of me at the last second, encrusting it in the teacher’s chest.

Miss Dunbar turns into dust, and her yell of rage kept on ringing across the bathroom even after there was nothing left.

I stood there alone, shaking like a leaf. I looked down, and the bronze trident was nothing but a necklace.

Looking up, I see Grover looking at me with fear in his eyes, as if I were about to be hanged for witchcraft.

Mr. Brunner doesn’t look much better. His left hand runs over his beard.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I start to say, using the wall behind me for support.

“Quiet, girl” commands Mr Brunner.

I do as he says, trying not to cry. 

I just killed someone.

Sure, she was coming at me with those smelly fangs, but still, I’m a murderer.

“They know” whispered Grover.

“Miss Agapov” starts Mr. Brunner, looking at me as if he were trying to figure out a way to kidnap me “What will you do this summer?”

_ What?” _

“Watch disney films?” it sounded more like a question, but my brain could barely process what was happening.

“Mm. Well, you’re going to have to change your schedule” he turned to Grover and began whispering in his ear.

My green eyes landed on the post where Miss Dunbar had vanished, almost expecting her to appear once more.

I feel someone grabbing my hand and I gasp, only to sigh when I notice Grover’s worried face.

“C’mon. We have to go. Now”

He pulls me out of the bathroom, but before we take another step, I force him to stop.

I turn to Mr.Brunner.

“Won’t you come with us, sir?” I ask, worried about him.

The poor man was on a wheelchair, and of Miss Dunbar were to return…

I swallowed the lump in my throat, not daring to finish the thought.

“I’ll be right behind you. I need to cover this”

I’m ready to protest.

“Don’t worry, Alexandria. I’ll be fine” he takes my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. “I’ll see you at camp”

“Let’s go” Grover urges me.

We run out of the museum and into the rain.

“Your house is near, right?” Grover asks me.

Luckily for us, the rain isn’t too heavy, and the weather is almost warm.

I nod, and guide him down the streets towards my house.

On the way there, I think back to what Mr Brunner said.

What camp was he talking about?


	3. Some crazy ladies steal my stomach

**II**

**Some crazy ladies steal my stomach.**

 

 

I’m surprised at how well Grover manages without his crutches. He runs faster than me, with the crutches over his shoulder, and his eyes travel around in a frenzy, as if expecting another one of those things to appear.

Things were happening too fast, and I feared that if I stopped to think about it another one of those things would appear and try to kill me.

My house was barely one kilometer from the museum, and we made it there in record time.

I use my key to open the door and let Grover in first, as he was the guest.

“MOM?!”

I’m not surprised when I don’t get a response. I knew Abraham wouldn’t be here, he rarely was.

I see Grover shaking lightly and I urge him towards the bathroom.

“Take a shower” I tell him, pushing him through the door.

The last thing we needed was to catch a cold.

I run over to Katy’s house, knowing she would be there.

She opens the door and smiles warmly at me.

“Hello, Alex!” she greets me, taking in my appearance “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Teacher’s sick”

“Oh!” I’m not sure she doesn’t believe me, after all, I’m a terrible liar.

“Um,..I don’t want to bother you, but my friend and I got caught in the rain, and I don’t have clothes that would fit him” my cheeks turn red. I never liked asking for anything “Could you hand me something?”

I knew she had a brother around Grover’s age who visited her on the weekends, and I was praying for her to say ‘yes’. Grover was taller than me, and I doubted he would enjoy wearing some pink pants with flowers on them.

She smiles again.

“Of course. Come on in”

I tell her I rather wait outside, and she closes the door. I wait for less than five minutes.

I look at the asphalt, almost fascinated by the way the water hits the floor. I almost forget I’m all wet; while a normal person would feel uncomfortable standing in wet clothes, I actually felt normal for once.

Katy opens her door, and she hands me a plastic bag.

“Here you go. I’m not sure about your friend’s size, but…”

“They’ll be fine” I smile at her.

I promise Katy that I’ll return the clothes and hurry back to the house.

Knocking on the bathroom’s door, I let Grover know of the clothes waiting for him. I put the bag on the floor and head up the stairs, thankful for my mother being at work, for I wouldn’t hear the end of it if she found out I used her bathroom.

She thinks that I don’t know what she hides there.

I take a quick shower, not daring to think about the events of the morning. I fear that if I do, I will go completely nuts.

Instead, I hum old songs to distract me.

I dry my dark hair and tie the wild curls with a band before going downstairs.

I see Grover sitting on the creamy couch, and realize this is the first time he’s ever come here.

“Did the clothes fit?” I ask, and contain a laugh as he jumps.

“Sweet Pan!” he yelps, giving me a glare.

I raise my eyebrows, but don’t say anything.

“Yes, they were fine. Thanks”

I shrug, and he looks around, no doubt noticing the lack of pictures on the walls.

I see the jeans Katy gave me on the couch, still inside the bag, and frown.

My eyes land on Grover’s legs and I scream.

“HOLY COW!” I stumble and fall on my butt.

Grover looks at me with wide eyes.

“What? What is it?”

“You’re a goat” I’m hyperventilating, trying not to faint.

_ That’s it! I’m never eating a snicker again. _

Grover crosses his arms, clearly offended.

“Satyr is the right word”

I keep my eyes glued to his hairy legs, not really processing what’s going on.

“Y-you can’t be” I struggle to form a full sentence “That’s just not possible”

I can faintly hear him buff.

“You were just attacked by one of Hades servants, but for some reason being a satyr is not possible?”

“Give me a break” I almost yell, bending over and placing my hands on my knees.

“Sorry.”

I can hear his hooves as he walks around me and into the kitchen, but I don’t look at him.

I must be dreaming! I have to be. Monsters, satyrs and tridents? That was just impossible. Cool, but impossible.

“Here” 

I look up to see my friend has returned, and he’s offering me a glass of water.

I accept with shaky hands and drink slowly. Grover waits patiently, watching me closely. When I finish, I still hold on to the glass, just to have my hands occupied.

“Take a sit” he softly instructs.

I do as he says, still not daring to look down.

Each time he takes a step, I flinch.

“Alex, do you know what happened back at the museum?” he asks, taking my cold hand in his warmer one.

“I ate a toxic candy”

He laughs a little, but then his expression becomes serious once more.

“That was,...a fury.”

“A fury?” I ask, frowning.

I had heard that before, probably in some movie or a tv show.

“SHH!” he urges me, looking around in terror “We call them the Kindly Ones”

“But you just said…”

“I know what I said, but we’re not supposed to say it”

I wait in silence for a few seconds.

“Fury”

He groans, looking down at the floor as if expecting for something to come out of it.

“Grover,...”I call him as softly as I can, for I fear the answer to my next question: “I mean it; what happened?”

He sighs.

“I told Chiron you would be hard to convince”

“Whom?”

“A servant of Hades, Lord of the Underworld, attacked you”

There was no hint of a lie on his voice, nor in his eyes. I could almost feel Miss Dunbar wings slapping, getting closer and closer.

It was just ridiculous, but I wanted to believe him; the only other option was that I had finally lost my mind.

“I know it must be hard for you to believe me, Alex, but you have to” I look down, only to make eye contact again when he squeezes my hand “You have to at least believe me when I tell you that you’re not safe anymore”

“Ok, “I take a deep breath, counting to ten “I can believe that”

“You also have to believe me when I tell you that there are people who want to hurt you, and they are sending their servants as we speak”

Now I needed my brown pants.

“Ok.”

“And most important, I need you to believe me when I say that I can take you to a place where you will be safe”

I nod, finding it impossible to talk with the lump in my throat.

“You believe all that?” when I nod again, he continues “Then you will understand why we have to leave now”

I take a couple of slow breaths and I stand up, going to my room. Grover follows me closely.

“Where are we going, exactly?” I ask, checking under the bed for my biggest backpack.

“A place called ‘Camp Half-Blood’ “

I ignore the strange name, slapping the backpack a few times to get rid of the dust.

“For how long?”

“The whole summer, but some people stay there the whole year”

I go to my closet and start taking out my clothes.

“How expensive is it?” is my next question.

I had some money saved, perhaps enough for the entire summer.

“You don’t have to pay anything, Alex” I can almost see the soft smile on Grover’s face. “It’s for free”

Now, that seems weird.

“Really? And how do they pay their expenses?”

“Selling strawberries”

I turn around with my hands full of panties and bras. Grover’s face turns red, but I ignore it. What was so embarrassing about underwear?

I still didn’t completely trust this camp story, but almost anything was better than this house.

“How far is it?”

“Not so far. Long Island” I point to something behind Grover, and he gets the message, grabbing my jacket from the back of a chair and handing it to me “You’ll like it there, I promise. There are plenty of kids like you”

I scoff, walking back to the closet and trying to decide which clothes to leave behind.

“You mean, dyslexics kids whose teachers have tried to kill them?”

“I mean, demi-gods”

I drop the blue dress, not just because I decided that it wasn’t practical for a camp.

“Demi,...right”

“It’s a safe place, Alex”

I grab two pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts, folding them as neatly as I can to make everything fit.

We don’t say anything for almost two minutes.

I carefully place a simple, white t-shirt on top of my clothes and breath, trying to keep the tears away.

“You say that people stay all year long?” I ask, too ashamed to look at him.

I can hear him coming closer, until he takes a seat next to me on the small bed.

“Yeah. Some of them do. It’s their home”

I have to solely focus on my breath, just to make sure I won’t break down.

“Do you think they’ll let me stay too?”

Grover frowns.

“They let everybody stay, Alex. But why would you want to stay all year long?”

I finally feel a tear sliding down my face.

“Because I don’t like it here. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but I can’t take my mother’s hate anymore”

Even though I didn’t speak for a long period of time, my throats hurts, and a sob threatens to make its way out of me.

Grover places his hand on my shoulder.

“We’re all family at camp.  _ You  _ are my family. We take care of each other.”

It sounded nice. Taking care of each other.

* * *

 

I decide to just pack the essential. I grab the money I had hidden under the bed and shove it inside the backpack, zipping it up.

I look at Grover, who’s too busy looking out the window, waiting.

“I’m done” I tell him.

He frowns in my direction.

“Will your mom arrive soon?”

I shrug, placing the backpack on my shoulders.

“I don’t know. She usually spends the night here”

He looks at me with pity, and I have to refrain myself from punching him.

“Can you call her?”

Now, that was a bad idea.

“Why?”

“So she can take us to camp”

I try not to laugh.

“She won’t do that.”

“To the bus station?”

I roll my eyes and turn around, leaving my room without looking back.

I go back to the living room and grab the jeans Katy gave me, throwing them at Grover, who catches them and puts them on.

Walking inside the kitchen, I decide to make a few sandwiches for the journey.

“Alex?”

“Can you pass me the mayo?” I ask him, grabbing a knife.

Grover does as I ask and I begin to prepare the food.

“Are you allergic to something?”

“Do you have a can?”

His question catches me off guard,resulting in me almost chopping off my index finger. I look up at him and blink.

“Behind you” I say, refusing to think that my half-goat friend likes to eat can.

I put the sandwiches on the backpack as carefully as I can and turn to Grover.

“You ready?” 

He looks up, swallowing the remaining of a coke can before speaking:

“What about your mother?”

I really didn’t want to answer that.

“What about her?” I answer with another question, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“Aren’t you even gonna say goodbye? She’ll be worried”

I try to hold back the bitter laugh, but it is extremely difficult.

“She won’t even notice I’m gone”

The worst part, is that it was probably true.

* * *

 

Grover told me that the fastest and safest way to travel to camp was to take the “Chariot of Damnation”: I told him that it didn’t sound very safe.

He explained that he had a few drachmas with him (the ancient coin of the Greeks), but not enough to pay the whole way from Rochester to Long Island.

Luckily, we catch a bus just before it leaves.

It was going to be a long journey.

I keep my eyes on the road on my right when I ask Grover to tell me about camp.

He goes into detail while describing the place, where these so called “demigods” learned how to defend themselves from the monsters who wanted to eat them. It wasn’t just a mere training camp, but a home for most of them, where they found friends and siblings.

“So, how many siblings do I have?” 

“I don’t know” says Grover “You’re supposed to be claimed first”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Supposed?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes at the disappearing buildings.

He looks uncomfortable as he answers:

“The Gods are busy, Alex. They don’t always have time to remember to claim their kids”

I felt my face going red with rage. ‘Don’t have time?’, ‘Don’t remember?’. How long would it take? They just have to look down from time to time and recognize their child. How hard could it be? They had forever to start wars and create chaos, what was it a couple of seconds from time to time to say: ‘Hey! That’s my kid’

Grover sees my expression through the glass.

“And sometimes,” he tries to appease my temper “they remain in the Hermes cabin because their Godly parent doesn’t have a cabin.”

That didn’t help at all.

I turn to him with a hard stare, and I almost feel bad for scaring him.

Grover tries to make himself small in the seat.

“What do you mean? Who doesn’t have a cabin?”

He thinks for a second.

“The minor Gods. Iris, Hypnos, Nike, Hades, Hecate and a few others.”

“Hades is not a minor God”

I didn’t know that much about myths, but I knew enough about the Olympians to be sure of my answer.

“He’s not” Grover agrees “But he’s the king of the Underworld, Alex”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

I can feel a strange fire rising inside of me. So far, I didn’t like these Gods, but for some reason, I felt the urgent need of arguing a case in favor of Hades. Maybe because we were both ignored by our family.

But so were the other minor Gods.

“Well, he doesn’t have a chair in the council either, and he’s not allowed to go to Olympus”

“That’s not fair!” I explode.

An elderly lady gives us a disapproving glare, telling us to keep it down. She still has some dark hair in her head, but for the most par it was as white as the snow. 

“Mind your own business, Cruella” I tell her.

I tended to be very polite, but at that moment, I was too angry to care.

“I’m sorry, ma'am” Grover apologizes. He then turns to me and lowers his voice “I know it seems unfair, Alex, but that’s the way it has been for millenias”

Now I just felt sad.

“But it’s not right”

We don’t say anything for the next minutes.My friend gives me a disapproving glance as I unwrap the sandwich; I eat in silence, and Grover refuses the one I made for him.

The rain falls again, this time heavier, and the bus slows down. I try to convince myself of what has happened today, and what Grover has told me.

Furies, Gods, camps for demigods.

“So, there’s a chance I’ll never know who my father is” I say quietly, still looking at the water, half my sandwich forgotten on my lap.

I didn’t think Grover had heard me.

“I have a guess”

He doesn’t say anything else, and I don’t pressure him.

Something tells me it will be better to live in ignorance.

 

* * *

 

 

Grover confides in me his story. He tells me that this is his second mission. When I ask about the first, his face is covered in pain.

He speaks of an oath between the Big Three.

“After the end of World War Two, they swore on the river Styx to never have another child again.”

“They couldn’t keep it in their pants; am I right?” I ask,arching a dark eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.

Grover nods.

“As far as we know, only Hades kept the promise”

I couldn’t help but smile at that.

He tells me the story of three demigods: a son of Hermes, a daughter of Athena, and a daughter of Zeus, and how he failed to deliver them all safe.

“I should have helped her, Alex” his shoulder slump, as if he were carrying the weight of the world.

“If you had, all of you would be dead” I try to console him.

He sobs, and I regret not bringing my handkerchief with me.

“She was dying, so Zeus turned her into a tree.”

That didn’t sound much better, but I decided to not judge.

“They didn’t trust me for years.” he flinches, as if remembering something painful “Not even now. They assigned me to you because they thought you weren’t very powerful”

I felt insulted; not only for me, but for my friend. He had delivered two demigods safe, but they still punished them. 

In the back of my mind, a small voice wondered if Grover punishment would have been as severe if he had lost one of the other kids instead of Zeus’s. 

Something told me no.

I place my hand in his, the same way he did with me a few hours ago.

“For the record, I think you’re a super awesome goat”

This time, he laughs.

“Satyr”

I smile, deciding that I prefer him happy.

“Right. Sorry”.

* * *

 

Soon after that, Grover fell asleep.

I was tired as well, but the harder I tried to sleep, the less likely it seemed.

I had a lot in my mind.

Why was a fury after me? Grover had said that they worked for Hades. I didn’t understand, I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Grover was worried. He told me that the big three didn’t usually send monsters after demigods

Maybe my Godly parent (whoever it was) had done something to anger Hades, but I still didn’t see what I had to do with it.

There was also the question of whom my father was.

It couldn’t be Hephaestus. As far as I knew, he had an,...accident when he was small, resulting in the slight disfiguration of his face.

_ My mother is too superficial for him, and I suck at mechanics. _

Maybe Ares. After all, I had taken a few karate classes when I was nine.

It couldn’t be Zeus. I was terrified of heights, and the guy seemed to be nuts.

It wasn’t Hades. Grover had said that he hadn’t broken his vows so far; besides, he wouldn’t kill his own child. I hoped.

I thought about Hermes. He was the God of thieves, and though I was terrible at stealing, I did enjoyed a prank every now and then.

I hoped it wasn’t Dionysus. For what Grover had said, the guy was a douche.

There was Poseidon. I remembered that time I spoke to a shark in an aquarium. I was ten, and after that, I had never gone back near water, scared of someone labeling me as crazy. Besides, I’ve never learned how to swim.

It could be Apollo. I liked music. A teacher had one said that I had a nice voice. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the violin, but when I asked my mother for one she just laughed at me.

There was the possibility of him being a minor God. If that were the case, I would have to stay in the Hermes cabin.

I sighed, deciding that it really didn’t matter who it was, the damage was done.

* * *

 

“Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês” Grover said to the ground.

Somehow, I understood what he said, but I wished I didn’t.

The night had creeped on us already, and the streets of Manhattan were blooming with life.

He threw a drachma to the ground, only for it to disappear. I took a few steps until I was right beside Grover.

“What…”

I didn’t have to finish, for right in front of us, the asphalt darkened. A bubbling, red rectangle gave life to a taxi.

It seemed to be made out of smoke, something that didn’t excite me at all.

The front window rolled down, and a hideous lady looked out. She lacked eyes, and her hair had definitely seen better days.

“Passage?” she asked in a raspy voice.

“Two to Camp Half-Blood”

Grover got in, but I remained in place. Something told me I wouldn’t enjoy this.

“C’mon”

Hesitating, I sat in the back seat with my goat friend.

There were another two ladies in the front seat.

The one driving pressed the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest.

A pre-recorded voice ringed across the space:

“Hi, this is Ganymede, cupbearer of Zeus, and when I’m out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up”

It was a nice advice, but the car moved at such speed that I wouldn’t have been able to move even if I wanted to.

Next to me, I could hear Grover muttering in a foreign language. It sounded like he was praying.

“Wasp! Give me the eye” said one of them.

“But today’s my turn!” protested Wasp.

“But I’m driving”

“Only if Anger lets me have it on friday”

“No way!” Screamed Anger, crossing her arms “I’m gonna go to Justin Bieber’s concert on friday”

“So?” asked the other two.

“I’m going to need to see him”

“Waste of time!” yelled Wasp. “Right, Tempest?”

“Yes. Now, the eye”

Tempest elbowed Wasp, taking her eye and putting in in her empty socket.

Sitting behind them, I couldn’t really see them, but my face turned green nonetheless; I wasn’t sure if it was because of the speed, or the idea of sharing an eye. 

They started to fight for real after that. Throwing punches in the wrong way, biting and scratching. They were screaming in what seemed the same language Grover had just used, and surprisingly, I understood some of the words.

I just couldn’t repeat them.

I closed my eyes and prayed to all the Gods I knew so I would make it in one peace.

After an eternity, the taxi stopped.

I threw myself out with trembling limbs, and didn’t waste any time in returning the contents of my stomach.

Grover paid them, while trying to not follow on my steps.

“Girl” called one of the woman.

I turned around with a defeated expression. I’m sure I must have looked terrible, on my knees with my chin covered in vomit and my face trying to decide if I looked better with red or green skin.

“Yeah?” I ask, frowning at the disgusting taste in my mouth.

“Come closer”

After trying to stand and failing, I crawled towards the taxi.

The woman (I think this was Wasp) grabbed me by the shirt. She had the eye.

Without saying anything, she stared at me for a few seconds.

“Interesting” she humped, not letting go of me.

“What is?” asked Grover, his voice full of fear.

“Beware of the traitor”

I just wanted to get away from her awful breath before I puked again.

“Okay”

She dropped me on the floor.

The crazy ladies drove away, still fighting.

I groaned, standing up with the help of Grover.

He led me towards the side of the road and up a hill. 

“I think my stomach is on the first illegal turn they took” I tried to joke.

Grover graced my bad joke with a nervous laugh, sniffing around.

Something told me that it wasn’t enchilada day.

“We better hurry” 

Gently, he urged me up the hill. The hem of my jeans got caught on a loose root.

I bent over to fix it and heard a growl.

_ Really? For fuck’s sake… _

I don’t even get the chance to turn around. Grover grabs me by the arm and urges me to run.

“HELLHOUND!” he keeps yelling, full of panic.

I try to get my legs to move faster, but a hobbit like me can only run so fast.

_ Fuck!FuckFuckFuckFuck! _

My hand accidentally touches the trident necklace, (Grover pinched my cheek until I agreed to keep it) and the bronze jewel turns into a delicate but deadly weapon.

I see the pine tree my goat friend told me about and my eyes widen.

I tighten my grip on the trident, forcing my body to move faster against the force; my main objective is to make sure Grover doesn’t get hurt.

I can see torches in the distance.

I push Grover forward, and he stumbles past the tree.

“GET HELP!” I yell at him, turning around, resigned.

_ I guess someone has to do it. _

I have no idea of how to use a trident, nor if it will also kill this big dog.

The hellhound is terrifying. I can’t see much of it in the dark of the night, but his yellow eyes were terrifying and hungry.

I never find out if I’m capable of killing it.

I trip with a small stone and fall back into the hard ground, hitting my head against something hard.

The world spins around me, and I can faintly see the hellhound colliding against an invisible force field.

The hellhound tries to circle around it a few times, only to disappear when I hear voices getting closer.

“SHE’S HERE!” I hear a new voice.

Someone kneels next to me.

“Get someone from cabin seven”

Black spots fill my vision, and I can feel how I lose charge of my body.

Someone lifts me up, and I find myself staring into a young boy’s face. 

He seems to be blonde, a scar marks his handsome face, and he has the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen.

I mutter something, and he gives me a wide grin.

“Don’t worry, darling. This angel will take care of you”

_ Did I call him something? _

The world turns black.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked this one.
> 
> I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistake, english is not my first language. Don’t hesitate to point out a mistake if you notice one.


	4. Claimed, at last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait, people. I got an inspiration boost for my Game of Thrones fic, and I’ve been working on that.
> 
> On other news, one more chapter and then there’s gonna be a time-jump.

 

III:Claimed, at last.

  
  


_ “I had a super weird dream” is the first thought that goes through my head. _

I open my eyes, only to close them immediately afterwards.

I lift my hand to protect my eyes, while I try to focus on what surrounds me. I can hear some mumbling, what almost sounds like hooves and,...

Hooves?

My eyes open and I sit abruptly, only to cause the world to start spinning.

My hand flies to my head, as if I could stop the movement with my touch, and I feel another hand on my shoulder.

“Hey. Take it easy”

It’s a boy, that much I can tell. His voice is warm, and I let him accommodate me in the bed.

Slowly, I open my eyes, and I am met with blue orbs. Concern showers his handsome face, ruined by a scar on the right side.

“How you feeling?” he asks, moving in such a way that the sun doesn’t hit me directly.

My throat is dry, every single muscle (even the ones I didn’t know I had) hurts, but what pains me the most is my head. I can feel a pulse in the middle of my forehead, extending all the way around my head, making me wanna cry.

“Water” I manage to mumble and he nods, taking a jar from the night stand besides the bed and pouring something golden in it. He fills the glass before handling it to me.

When I look at it with suspicion, he smiles.

“Drink it. You’ll feel better” his voices is patient, as if he has dealt with people like me before.

I don’t move, although the idea of the painkiller is extremely attractive.

“It’s called Nectar” said a female voice. Luke and I turn to see a blonde girl with intense grey eyes. She couldn’t have been more than two or three years younger than I, but she held herself in such a way that made me feel like I had to bow before her,...or avoid to get in a fight with her “And you gave her too much, Luke.”

The guy, Luke, turns pink as his eyes fall to my glass once more.

“Just a few sips, Alexandria” says the girl, coming closer to us.

She watches me with hawk eyes as I hesitantly drink from the glass. It’s warm and tastes like pizza. In a few seconds, the pain goes away, and I stop drinking.

Luke takes the glass from me, and the girl clears her throat.

“You go get some rest, I’ll take her to Chiron”

Luke nods and stands. He’s quite tall, and muscular, but not in a Arnold Schwarzenegger way.

“I hope to see you around” he tells me with a charming smile before leaving.

I take in my surroundings for the first time. I’m in some sort of infirmary. There are two lines of empty beds, and a blonde boy sits next to a wooden desk, with his eyes close and snoring.

The girl is still looking at me, and I’m starting to feel uncomfortable.

I clear my throat.

“I’m Alex” I say, raising my hand.

She blushes, noticing for the first time that she hasn’t introduced herself.

“Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena”

“Cool” I say, trying to not look too awkward. I suddenly remember my hairy friend “Where’s Grover?”

Annabeth winces.

“He’s in the Big House. C’mon, you have to go there anyway. Chiron will speak to you.”

Slowly, I stand up. Annabeth watches me closely, ready to aid me in case I fall.

I notice that I’m clean, my hair has been brushed and braided, and I’m wearing a hideous orange t-shirt with a pegasus in it, black shorts and sandals.

_ I look like a street cone. _

“Who…”

My question hangs in the air, but Annabeth seems to understand.

“One of the girls from the Apollo cabin. Kyla, I’m pretty sure”

The fact that a stranger washed and dressed me is rather unnerving, but upon knowing a girl did it, I feel slightly better.

_ Although a girl can be as perverse as a boy. _

I try not to think about it as I follow Annabeth out.

I’m greeted by a beautiful sight. The sun shines upon the fields, the air has some saltiness to it, and the sound of yelling and laughter greets me.

To my left I can see a lake, and some kids in a canoa pushing each other. To the right there seems to be  a food court, there are several tables and columns around them, but I don’t see a roof. In front of my I see the back of some cabins, and more to the sides. They all look different.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Annabeth’s voice brings me back to reality, and I turn to her sheepishly.

She’s giving me a gentle smile.

“What is this place?” I ask,  trying to see everything at once.

“Home” she answers, and by the tone of her voice, I know that she’s including me.

It warms my heart.

Annabeth takes my hand, and in the blink of an eye, she’s back to comando bossy.

“Let’s go. I’ll give you the tour later.”

We walk past the lake and what seems to be the toilets, and down a small river. The water is so clean I almost cry. I hated to see all the contamination in the cities, especially the water, but what I hated more was how people (take my darling mother as an example) denied things as global warming.

We avoid some kids playing volleyball and we stop in front of a two story house. It’s quite big, and blue. There's a man in a horse waiting in the porch… wait!

The man is not sitting on the horse. And I know that face.

“Ah! Alexandria. I’m glad you’re awake. Thank you, Annabeth” says Mr. Brunner, smiling down at us.

“Sure, Chiron”

“Come, come” Mr. Bru,...Chiron urges me with a wave of his hand.

My blond companion gives me a small nudge, and I climb up the stairs towards him.

“What are you?” Is the first thing I say to him.

Luckily, Chiron doesn’t take offence at my question.

“I am a centaur, Miss Agapov. Now, c’mon, take a seat. We have some things to discuss”

I sit in chair at a small card table, and Annabeth takes the seat next to me.

“Do you know what this place is?” asks Chiron, coming closer to us.

“It’s a camp, right?” I feel like when a teacher would randomly ask me a question; sometimes I knew the answer, but the moment they started talking in the middle of my sentences, I would paralyze “Grover said something, Camp half something…”

“Camp Half-Blood, yes” says Chiron.

There. Paralyzed.

“What else do you know?”

When I don’t answer, Annabeth starts talking.

“Do you know about the greek myths?”

She waits for my answer with her hands folded in front of her. She looks almost like a strict principal.

“Um, yeah. I know a few things. We talked about it a little bit in class,...”

“A little bit? That was the main focus on the midterms” says Chiron, giving me a disapproval glance.

I blush, remembering how I barely passed that one.

“Yeah, true. And, um, Grover told me some stuff”

“What did he say?” Annabeth spoke again.

“He told me about a tree-girl” when their expressions grow somber, I change the subject. “He told me about the Gods. There’s Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, right? And they’re the big deal, then there’s the other Gods, some cooler than others; and if one of them claims me, I move to their cabin.”

“Very well. Until that happens, you will be staying in Cabin eleven, with Hermes children. There’s no need for you to see our movie then”.

I sit up straight.

“Movie? You guys have movies?”

“To explain everything, yes” answers Annabeth.

“I wanna watch it”

“There’s no need. You know enough already”

“Oh, man! I wanted to watch a movie”

Chiron ignores us.

“All campers follow a schedule. Annabeth will take you to your cabin and give you a tour. Dinner will be served in three hours”

We stand up at the same time, but Chiron seems to remember something.

“Oh! Annabeth, please wait for Miss Agapov, I need to speak with her in private.”

Annabeth walks down the steps and stand by the volleyball field, watching the game as if she were analyzing a potential enemy.

“What did your mother say about you coming here?”

The question catches my attention and I blush.

“She probably hasn’t noticed my absence”

“But you did tell her, right?” Chiron suspicious eyes make me uncomfortable.

“Well, yeah. She was at work, so I left a note on the fridge.”

I wasn’t lying. She  _ was  _ at work, and  _ I did _ left a note, something along the lines “My goat friend and I are going to a camp for trouble-maker freaks. Here’s their phone number”.

“Alexandria” sighed my teacher “You should have waited for her to come back. She could have bought you herself.”

I felt like shit, to put it in a simple way. Not because Chiron is about to give me a lecture, but because I’m gonna have to explain to someone else how she truly won’t notice my absence.

I tell him this, and he looks at me with pity.

“Don’t look so down, Alexandria” he says, running his hand through my hair. I don’t dare to look up “It’s tragic, but many other demigods go through the same struggles. Take Annabeth for example”

I look towards the girl. She’s still watching the game. For some reason, the thought of her being hated by her mortal parent makes me feel terrible. Nobody should know what that feels like.

“I’ll call your mother before dinner, just to make sure” says Chiron.

I hear hooves, and a shaky voice coming out of the house.

Grover stands in the doorway, and my mood instantly lightens up.

“Grover!” I yell, running towards him and giving him a bear hug “You idiot! I thought you were dead!”

He pushes me back, and the feeling of rejection hits me hard.

He doesn’t dare to look at me.

“I left you alone with the hellhound” he whispers, ashamed.

I roll my eyes.

“ ‘Cause I asked you to, dumbass”

“Still. It’s my job to protect you”

Behind him, someone buffs. Grover moves to the side, and a little man. appears in front of me. He looks like an alcoholic cherubs.

“And you did a terrible job. You’re lucky I haven’t turned you into dust” his dark, watery eyes check me up and down, as if I were an annoyance he had to deal with “This is the newbie?”

“Mr. D, this is Alexandria Agapov” Chiron introduces me.

“Alexandria? What a stupid-ass name”

I agree, but I’m still offended with the way he’s talking to Grover and I.

“Hey! Listen you...

“Alex” Chiron interrupted, while Mr. D doesn’t take his eyes off me, almost daring me to say something “Go with Annabeth. Grover, I believe the council awaits you.”

My friend looks downright terrified, and I feel awful for  him.

He walks down the steps and waves at Annabeth, walking towards a forest like a man sentenced to death.

Without saying anything, I approach my tour guide.

“You ready?” 

Annabeth doesn’t give me time to answer. She takes my hand and guides me towards the cabins.

There are twelve of them, some of them stand prouder than others in a ‘U’ shape. There’s a big fire in the center, and a small girl stands in front of it.

I stop to look at her. Everybody is ignoring her, but she doesn’t seem hurt by it.

As if sensing my stare, she looks up. Even in the distance, I can tell she has warm eyes. I wave, and she waves back, smiling softly.

Annabeth pulls at my hand, dragging me towards the first cabin to our left.

“The even numbers are for Goddesses, and the odds for the Gods. This is cabin eleven”

I look at it and decide that is has seen better days. It looks like a proper cabin, compared to the others, and it has a caduceus craved in the wood, above the door.

We enter the cabin and stop. It’s overpopulated, with so many sleeping bags you can’t see the floor.

There are a few campers inside. Some of them look at me up and down, as if trying to decide if I carry something worth stealing.

Luke sleeps to my left. His sandy hair falls over his eyes (I almost want to run my hands through it) and I see the bags underneath them.

Annabeth stands in front of me.

“This is Alexandria. Everybody say ‘Hi’ ”

Some of them wave, others give me nod.

“I said say ‘Hi’ “ yells Annabeth.

Everybody says “Hi”

“It’s just Alex” I tell them, trying to look friendly.

“Regular or undetermined?” asks a boy. He’s tall and lean, much like Luke. His hair is dark and slightly curly, His face reminds me of a goblin, and the mischievous smile can only mean trouble. 

“Undetermined” Annabeth answers for me.

I assume the last word means that my father is too busy to claim me, because all the others give me a look of pity, similar to the one Chiron gave me a few minutes back.

“Well, you’ll be sleeping there” Annabeth points towards a sleeping bag right under a window, next to the bed where the same boy who spoke sits.

I nod, noticing a change of clothes on the ground.

“Let’s go”

She takes my hand again, and begins to drag me out of the cabin.

“Wooh! Wait there, Annie-bellies. Don’t you take our new friend away like that”

The goblin boy walks towards me, followed by his twin. They smile at me and each take one of my hands, placing a loud kiss to the back of it.

“Travis and Connor Stoll at your service, m’lady.”

They give me a small card with their names.

 

**“Stoll & Associates.**

**Expert thieves, pranksters and super hot friends.**

**Call to: 000-I-like-big-butts-and-I-can-not-lie”**

 

I stare at the card with my mouth hanging open. I’m not sure how to call to that number.

“Ok” It’s all I can say.

“Tell us, Alex. Do you like pranks?” asks the taller one.

“Um,...yeah. Sometimes”

They give me a smirk that send shivers down my spine. They must be up to no good.

“Don’t you dare to corrupt her” Luke’s gorgy voice reaches my ears, and I turn to see that he hasn’t opened his eyes, although he’s smiling.

“Us?” Both brothers place their hands over their hearts, looking offended. I can see the mirth in their eyes. “But, of course not!”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, taking my hand and dragging me out.

Travis and Connor stand at the doorstep, looking at me with evil smiles.

“See ya’, new partner” they yell.

I turn to Annabeth.

“Do they always speak at the same time?”

She shrugs.

“Sometimes. You get used to it”

She shows me the rest of the cabins. Apollo’s one hurts my eyes, Aphrodite's is too pink, and it reminds me of that teacher in a Harry Potter film. Athena’s cabin looks like a classroom, and I make a mental note, telling myself to never set foot there. Ares cabin is red, and it looks quite scary, while Hephaestus seems to have a lot going on.

Cabin three has some charm to it, and I stand looking at it for a few minutes. It smells like the sea, the roof is low, and the place looks quite long. It’s made of stone, and a trident stands proudly over the door.

I want to go in, but Annabeth stops me before I set foot in it.

Zeus and Hera’s cabins are empty.

“Can’t the other campers sleep in Hera’s cabin?” I ask.

I knew that they couldn’t live in Zeus or Poseidon’s, but Hera was the Goddess of family, as far as I knew. Surely she wouldn’t mind.

Annabeth struggles for a few seconds.

“Lady Hera isn’t particularly fond of demigos”

_ But of course. _

I don’t ask again, and we keep walking.

Annabeth points towards the toilets and showers, explaining how the schedule works.

We walk past the Mess Hall, and I watch the Climbing wall with an open mouth.

“Is it real lava?”

“Yes”

“What if you can’t avoid it?”

Annabeth shrugs.

“Go to the infirmary, but it’s better if you’re careful”

We take a small walk by the Fireworks Beach, and Annabeth tells me about the fourth of july spectacle. She refuses to take me into the woods, saying that we don’t have enough time, so we go straight towards the stables.

Beautiful pegasus greet us. They are magnificent creatures of all the colours. A girl with straight brown hair is feeding them.

She turns and smiles at us.

“Hey, Annabeth. New camper?”

“This is Alex”

I greet her with a smile, and she gives me a hug.

“I’m Silena. It’s very nice to meet you”

We talk with Silena for a few minutes. She’s a daughter of Aphrodite, and quite nice. I tell her that I never rode a horse, but she tells me not to worry about it.

“I’ll teach you tomorrow”

One of the pegasus sniffs my hair.

“Nice smell, sistah. Is it peaches?”

I stare at him with wide eyes.

“Um,..thanks. I guess so”

Since when did horses talk?

He’s quite elegant looking, with grey shining mane.

“This is El jefe” says Silena, running her hand affectionately down his back.

“It means ‘The boss’ in spanish.” says El Jefe, with a proud voice.

“He’s rather dumb, but cute” continues Silena.

“I beg you pardon!”  El Jefe seems angry.

I should warn her about the horse’s mood, but I’m scared of them thinking I lost my mind, so I keep my mouth shut.

“Hey, kiddo. Can you bring me a vegan cheeseburger tomorrow?” asks El Jefe.

I don’t say anything to him.

I follow Annabeth towards the armory, where she tries to make me pick a weapon.

“You’re gonna train with almost all of them, but it’s better if you choose one to specialize with”

I look around at all the swords, bows, daggers, spears and mazes, but none of them caught my eye.

“I have a trident” I tell Annabeth, taking off my necklace.

It grows in size until it stands to my height. She looks at me, clear surprise all over her face. The surprise turns into something darker.

“Don’t let anybody see that”

I don’t dare to ask why, so I accept what she says with a frown. The trident grows small again, and I hang it around my neck.

A boy comes in, and Annabeth asks him to craft me a new trident.

He introduces himself as Beckendorf before nodding. 

I let him take my measurements, and he promises me to have it done as soon as possible.

We continue in silence. Annabeth seems to be thinking of something, and absent-mindedly points towards the Arena, the arts and crafts rooms and strawberry fields, saying something about selling them to pay expenses.

Some of the campers look in our direction. They must recognize me as the girl who trip and fell.

_ Great. _

“Yo!”

My companion and I stop and turn around, watching a slightly chubby girl with brown hair walk towards us. She’s rather intimidating, with the sleeves of her orange t-shirt ripped off, cargo pants and black combat boots

“Are you the girl that killed the hellhound?” she asks me.

I hadn’t killed the beast, but something tells me that confessing that to her is not a brilliant idea.

“Leave her alone, Clarisse” Annabeth grunts.

Clarisse turns towards her.

“Stay outta it, bookworm”

Clarisse pushes Annabeth, and she falls to the ground. The blonde looks ready to attack her, but I stand between them.

I barely knew Annabeth, and though she was rather bossy, she was a nice girl. I didn’t like the way this Clarisse girl treated her.

“Hey! What makes you think you can do that?”

I cross my arms, trying to look scary, but I doubt it works.

“I just can, now move before I kick your lame ass”

“No. Now turn around and leave before I end you just like I did with that hellhound”

Clarisse looks smug, and before I can fully process it, I’m laying on the ground next to Annabeth with a bleeding nose.

Clarisse walks away laughing. She sounds like a pig suffocating.

Annabeth inspects my nose.

“It’s not broken” she determinates.

I clean the blood with the t-shirt and lean forward, pressing my fingers to my nose.

The bleeding stops soon enough, and Annabeth takes me back to my cabin, saying that dinner will be served shortly.

* * *

 

After I clean my nose, Travis and Connor offer to help my with my vendetta. Without Annabeth around, I don’t hesitate to accept.

Luke leads us to the Mess Hall, and we barely fit at the table. I’m almost sitting on his lap.

There were easily a hundred demigods, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen naiads and wood nymphs in the place.

Torches blaze on the columns.A central fire burns in a bronze brazier. There were four empty tables, and Apollo’s looked almost as full as ours.

Grover sat with a sad expression next to Chiron and Mr.D, and two boys who looked remarkably like him, but nicer.

Annabeth sat at a table with three boys and two girls with the same blonde hair and grey eyes. They all looked quite serious.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor, and the pavilion fell into an instant dead silence.

“To the Gods!”

Everybody raised their glass.

“To the Gods!” 

Wood nymphs came in with plates of food.

Travis tossed me a steak, some bread and grapes. 

“Thanks” I say to him.

Connor explained me how the glasses worked, and I asked for cherry coke.

Just as I began to cut the steak, I noticed the rest of the campers standing up.

“C’mon.” Luke helped me to my feet “We have to make an offering to our godly parent”

“To whom should I make the offer to?” I ask.

“Hermes, I suppose” he shrugged.

Everybody seemed to be throwing their best pieces to the bonfire. I wondered why the Gods wanted us to do this? Didn’t they have food in Olympus?

Soon comes my turn, and I throw the steak into the fire, mumbling:

“Hermes”

I follow Luke back to our table. As I’m sitting, a tall, blonde girl walks by and  trips over my foot. Her plate flies before landing on the floor. Her beautiful hair is covered in food, and so are her expensive heels and the skirt of the dress she wore underneath the camp t-shirt..

Travis and Connor laugh hysterically, and the rest of Silena’s table gives me dirty looks.

“I’m so sorry” I apologize.

I expect the girl to snap at me, but she laughs it off.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention.”

Mr. D yells, and we turn to look at him.

“Let’s welcome a new camper. Her name is Alexia Agopa and…”

Chiron whispers something in his ear.

“Alex Agapov. Undetermined. Yay! Another brat to feed”

He sits back down, and I look at Luke.

“Don’t worry, he’s always like that”

I nod and turn towards the blonde girl, who’s now sitting with her back to her table and her plate on her hands.

I learn that her  name is Karen, and she’s Silena half sister. She’s quite nice, and asks me if I like physics.

I go pale.

“I plan on going to Oxford” she tells me.

“I plan to live past this day” I say.

She laughs again, but it’s not a mocking laugh.

She offers to help me with any subject I have problems with, and I decide that I like her.

Eating is rather uncomfortable, mainly because I’m bending over my side, so I can talk with Karen without turning my back to her.

As she begins to talk about something about strength and magnetics fields, she stops mid-sentence.

Her blue eyes are fixed on something above my head.

I take notice of the sudden silence in the Mess Hall.

I turn, and everybody’s looking at me.

Annabeth seems suspicious, Chiron resigned, and Grover can’t believe it.

I look up, and I see a golden laurel wreath above my head.

All at once, everybody stands.

“It is determined” Announced Chiron “Apollo.Defeater of Python. Bringer of the sun. Patron of light, reason, prophecy, music, poetry, archery and medicine.  Hail, Alexandria Agapov, daughter of the Sun God.”

 


	5. TIme Passes By...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I originally planned on posting on Halloween,...but shit happens.
> 
> If someone is still reading this, thanks a lot!!
> 
> We’re gonna, well, Alex’s gonna be meeting a certain seaweed brain soon…

 

 

IV.

Time passes by...

  
  


Child of the sun God? Yeah, I didn’t buy it.

I was moved into the Apollo cabin that very same night, and found myself with my arms crossed, staring at the shiny, gold ceiling with a frown on my face.

I didn’t understand how my others “siblings” managed to get some sleep. The walls were as shiny on the outside as they were on the inside, it was almost as if it were midday.

I stare at them, wondering if they really think I’m their sister. Most of them had blonde hair, and the rest were gingers. I had black hair. They all had blue eyes. Mine were sea green.

Besides, if Apollo symbol was the laurel, why was I given a trident? Why did I hear horses talking? And what had happened in that bathroom with Miss Dunbar? How did she ended up soaked to her soul while I was as dry as a desert?

I knew Chiron knew the truth, but the look he gave me told me it was better not to ask.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. If I really wasn’t a daughter of Apollo, then why had he claimed me? Was he doing my real father a favor? Was he embarrassed of me? Why not claiming me? After all, the damage was done. I wasn’t supposed to be born, but here I was, so what was the point of it all?

_ He could have just left me in the Hermes cabin, why did Apollo have to claim me? _

A small part of me wanted to believe that there was a good reason for this, that maybe, he did love me, and he was just trying to protect me from something.

_ Like what? I’m safe here, and if a helldog was sent after me, then it means the other Gods must know about me. _

I angrily turn to my side and close my eyes.

I spend the rest of the night counting sheeps.

* * *

 

I think Lee might just want to kill me.

All of Apollo’s kids had some sort of musical talent. Some played the piano, others the flute, guitar, bass or double bass, and so on.

We had started two days prior. He had asked if I studied something before coming to camp, and when I said no, he assured me that it was alright, and we would find something in no time.

I tried a violin, but decided that its sound was too high for my tastes, so I passed on to the viola...I broke two strings and the neck within the first twenty minutes. I wasn’t interested in the piano nor the drums (mainly because I managed to break the bumbo within the first ten minutes), and he didn’t even let me touch the harp.

On the third day, a guitar broke after it fell off my hands

Lee sighed, and I blushed, wishing the earth would swallow me hole.

“Maybe I just don’t got it” I said, putting the guitar down.

“It’s ok, Alex. Don’t feel bad, I’m sure we’ll find something”

I doubted it. I had tried everything. Even the triangle!

Will, who had been sitting on a corner for the past half hour, sat up straight and rushed towards Lee, whispering something in his ear.

Lee’s eyes shone with renewed hope, and he motioned me to come closer as he sat at the piano.

“Here, try to sing this” he said, playing the central C.

I just stared at the key. Me? Sing? With headphones, maybe.

“C’mon, don’t be shy” Will tried to cheer me up “It’s not about the voice really, but hitting the right note”

“Please” begged Lee, looking as if he might cry at any second.

I suppose I could give it a try. I didn’t want to be the only child of Apollo who sucked at music.

I tried to hit the note.

“Breathe” instructed Lee, showing me how to properly stand and breathe. He placed his hand on my diaphragm, telling me about how to release the air.

With his hand still on my middle section, he asked Will to play the C.

“Again” he said when I got it wrong.

Will sang the C, and I followed suit, paying attention to when our voices melted into one.

“Good!”

Lee sat back again at the piano, and continued to play a simple scale, helping me when I didn’t hit the note.

We spent sometime trying to get the technique right, and by the end of the lesson, my throat hurt a little.

“You’ll be fine” assured me Lee, looking excited; not even the pile of broken instruments he had sent to the Hephaestus cabin seemed to bother him anymore.

I was just happy I wasn’t a complete black sheep in their cabin.

Annabeth came in, looking like she also wanted to murder me.

“You didn’t show up for your Greek lesson” she said.

We looked at the time, realizing for the first time that we had stayed for over two hours.

“We got a new soprano” informed Will, smiling brightly

“Nice. You!” she pointed at me, narrowing her eyes “Tomorrow you’ll stay two hours”

I groaned. I liked Annabeth, but she was a strict teacher, and there was nothing more depressing than school on summer.

“But…”

“No buts” she said, storming out.

“She said ‘no butts’ “laughed Will.

* * *

 

I’ll admit that I wasn’t the best with a bow and arrow. Compared to my siblings, I was pitiful. Annabeth and Will tried to comfort me saying that I had barely begun. It didn’t made me feel any better. Chiron also tried to help, but he seemed distant, with his face in a permanent frown and murmuring things like: ‘I swear she’s’ or ‘It doesn’t make sense’ or ‘The prophecy’. When I asked what prophecy he was talking about, he gave me a look that almost had me running up the hills, and said that I was late for art  & crafts class with the Hephaestus cabin. I still had fifteen minutes before that kind of torture, but I decided to not keep tenting my luck, so I left.

I sat on the steps and waited for the other campers to come out.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” a voice spoke next to me “If it isn’t a small ray of sunshine”

I rolled my eyes and tried to hide my smile

“Very funny, Lucy” I didn’t turn to look at him

Luke chuckled

“So…”he gave me a slight push with his elbow “Daughter of Apollo, uh?”

“Weird, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“Honestly, I thought you would be a kid of one of the bosses”

“Why?” I asked, resting my elbows on the step behind me. Luke did the same.

“Don’t know” he said, shrugging “You got a different,...uh, aura around you, I guess. I thought you were special”

“Ouch. Thanks” I smirked.

“I didn’t mean it that way” he gave me a light punch on the shoulder “You’re still special”

“Of course” I answered, my voice dripping sarcasm “The daughter of Apollo who can’t shoot properly”

“Hey, don’t feel so bad” he gave me a kind smile, and his gorgeous blue eyes shined in a way that made it difficult to focus “We all gotta start somewhere”

“I guess you’re right” I sighed, and then smiled as a bright idea came to mind “¡You could teach me!”

Luke’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“¡No!”

The way he said it took me by surprise. It was as if I had suggested that we steal the nuclear codes and unleash our wrath on a children's hospital...or something like that.

“Why not?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“The only thing you’ll learn with me is to be worse than you already are” he looked at me as if I suddenly had two heads and I rolled my eyes, going back to my previous position with resignation “I could teach you how to use a sword, but nothing involving long distances”

I snorted.

“You can’t be that bad”

He laughed, avoiding answering.

I still had a few minutes before the class would start, so we just sat there, enjoying each other’s company. I wasn’t really one for long periods of silence, but for some reason, it felt right while sitting with Luke. It almost made me feel better.

I began thinking about my life before this place; it seemed like a century had passed since Grover brought me here, when in reality it had been a little over two weeks ago. I wondered if the reason why my mother hated me so much was because I reminded her of my father, or if there was something else. Grover had said that most demigods arrived at camp no older than twelve, that the chances of surviving outside without training were very slim and I wondered if my mother would have eventually told me what I was, if she would have brought me to camp, or if she would have kept quiet, hoping that one day, some monster or another would kill me.

“...On friday” I heard Luke say.

I turned towards him at such a speed I was surprised my neck didn’t snap.

“What?”

He didn’t seem bothered by my lack of attention.

“I said that we were playing ‘Capture the flag this friday’. Has anyone told you what that is about?”

I nodded absentmindedly and set my eyes on the step below me. There was some dirt in it. I heard Luke get closer and felt as he draped his arm around my shoulders, but  neither said anything.

Without giving it any thought, I leaned my head until it was resting in the crook of his neck, thankful that he hadn’t asked how I was feeling

I didn’t realized I was crying until I felt his thumb wiping away my tears. I didn’t even know why I was crying. Was it because of my mother? My father? Or because it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t seem to fit in?

“It’ll get better. I promise” whispered Luke, tightening his grip around my shoulders and using his free hand to take one of mines. He gave it a light squeeze.

“How long it took for you?”

I felt him shrug.

“I’m still working on it, but it  _ will  _ get better”

There was a strange determination in his voice, and it made me believe him.

I looked up, finding a charming smile aimed at me. I quickly escaped it, looking at the closed door behind us.

I looked at the sun (Will had taught me how to tell the time by looking at it)

“They should be done any minute now” I got up and took a few steps “I should head in”.

Luke raised his hand and I helped him to get up.

“You sure you wanna head in? You’ll ruin everybody’s inspiration”

“Asshole”

“You know you love me, sunshine” he looked in the direction of the woods, and turned back to me “Wanna ditch?”

“That’s a bad idea” I considered it for a few seconds “Let’s do it”

He laughed, and we started walking towards the tree line.

 

**One year later…**

 

“Again” said Lee, placing his fingers over the keys of the piano “Make sure to make it sound light. Da capo”

He started playing again, and I began singing.

“Don’t forget to breathe. Yeah,better.”

“In my life, 

there are so many questions and answers

That somehow seem wrong.

In my life,

there are times when I catch in the silence 

the sigh of a faraway song.

And it sings…”

“Off tune” said Lee, repeating the phrase.

“And it sings,

of a world that I long to see.

Out of reach, 

just a whisper away, 

waiting for me.”

“Great” said Lee, stoping. “You got this part right. Let’s study the next”

I sat next to him and pretended to listen as he gave me instructions on how the song was supposed to sound.

I was very thankful with Lee, he had helped me so much with my voice training. I really enjoyed this lessons, so I guess that helped with my fast learning. I refused to acknowledge that it was because Apollo’s kids tended to excel effortlessly in the arts. Besides, there wasn’t much to do during winter besides my lessons and combat training, so I usually spent my time on the music room perfecting my technique. Annabeth joined in sometimes; she would sit in a corner and read while I practiced. Sometimes she would wander around and ask questions, which I would gladly answer. Every week, Lee would make an Iris call so he could check my progress.

One time I asked why he did it. As far as I knew, he was the only one to check upon someone’s progress, and he only did it with me.

He had shrugged.

“You have a future, kiddo” he said, while I bit my tongue. We were of the same age. “If you want it, of course”

Maybe he took an extra effort with me because deep down, he knew that me being his sister didn’t make sense and he didn’t want me to feel more out of place than I already did.

I didn’t say anything though, I appreciated his help.

“By the way, I heard of a small production of The Little Mermaid. I’ll send you the sheets so you can practice for your audition.”

I shifted on my seat uncomfortably.

“I’m not sure I’ll be able…”

“I’ll talk to Chiron”

“...to sing Ariel’s part”

He rolled his eyes.

“Yes, you can. Now practice. I gotta go; mom made lasagna”

* * *

 

I did get the part, to my astonishment.

Argos would take me on the camp bus to rehearsal every day and once a week Chiron and Annabeth would take a ride with me; since there were less than ten people on camp this time of year, we didn’t need as much food, so we could go get it ourselves on some grocery store.

They were there on the opening night, on the front row.

Even Silena, Karen, Lee and Will had come back to New York to see me.

I felt nauseous, I didn’t want to disappoint anybody, especially Lee, whom had stayed with me late into the night, helping me prepare.

I adjusted the wig and talking a deep breath, I walked into the stage.

It wasn’t a full house, barely half the seats were taken, and I was surprisingly relieved by that.

I looked at the front seats, where my family was looking up at me with big, encouraging smiles.

I locked eyes with Luke. He gave me a toothy grin and a small nod and I almost blushed.

Pathetic, really.

Closing my eyes, I forgot about everything. I forgot about the hot clothes and the annoying wig, I forgot about the blinding lights, I forgot about the judgemental crowd and the critics. It was just me, the orchestra and Lee, waiting to give advice.

Taking a deep breath and relaxing my jaw, I began to sing.

Luke was waiting for me backstage. He was holding a red rose.

It was a cliché, but the intention endearing.

I stopped in front of him.

“You were wonderful” he said, handing me the flower.

I took it avoiding eye contact.

“You just say that ‘cause you lack a good ear”

He chuckled.

“Perhaps I do, but I can recognize raw talent when I see it”

“I forgot to breathe at the beginning” I complained, walking towards the small dressing room.

“Everybody makes mistakes on stage, Alex” he shrugged, looking around with mid curiosity “Even the best. Besides, it was your first show.  I’m sure tomorrow you’ll do better”

* * *

 

The second night, only Lee attended.

I made sure to finish with a sweet note, and narrowed my eyes as I saw a dark figure sitting in the back. It looked like a man, and his eyes were fixated on me.

I wanted to look away, but I found myself drowning on those black pools.

A small movement caught my eye, and I saw Lee discreetly waving at me.

I began to sing. 

The song couldn’t finish fast enough. I tried to concentrate only on what was happening on stage, but I could feel his eyes on me. I had never felt so vulnerable.

I got off the stage and grabbed a bottle of water. Those black eyes made me feel uncomfortable, but I simply couldn’t just take my things and go home now.

I saw him heading out during the last five minutes, and I sighed in relief. I was almost done, and soon I would be going home to rest.

Once the show was over I went backstage to get out of the mermaid costume.

A guy who worked backstage walked towards me with a bouquet of white roses.

“For you, Al. Some guy dropped them during the final act.

“Thanks, Harry”

I really wasn’t into roses, but most people seemed to like them, and the fact that someone had thought I was good enough to get some made me smile.

There was a small note attached to the bouquet, and I didn’t waste time in reading it.

_ ‘Good job, Siren’ _

I frowned. ‘Good job’? I guess it was better than nothing.

My mind went back to the dark stranger, and I wondered if he was the one who sent me the flowers. Something about that thought made me feel uncomfortable. I knew a lot of artist got flowers after their performance, mostly from fans, but for some reason, having a fan, if that is what he was, made me feel uneasy. Like there was something inappropriate about it.

Right before I threw them into the nearest trashcan, Lee snatched out of my hands.

“Kinda cliché, but at least you got something” He read the note and a frown appeared on his face, but he tried to hide it with a smile and his eyes found mine. They were shining, like a proud big brother, but there was something else behind them, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was “Tomorrow I won’t be here, so make sure to not let your mind wander”

Asking that from a demigod was like asking a lion to not eat meat.

“Sure”

He offered me his arm.

“Get out of that hideous costume. I wanna go home” We walked together for a few seconds “By the way, you were a little of tune during ‘When’s it my turn, wouldn’t I love’ part.

I sighed.

“I know. I got nervous”

“Well, don’t”

I rolled my eyes, letting him help me to get out of the skirt-tail.

“Jeez, thanks. Now that you’ve said it it won’t happen again”

He gave me a look and pulled at the skirt, and I fell on my back.

“I hate this costume”

* * *

 

Unfortunately, we were cancelled after a few days.

I was sad, but Silena tried to cheer me up.

“It’s ok, Alex. It happens all the time, not only to small productions” a spoon full of ice cream went to her mouth and I narrowed my eyes, tempted to end the Iris call “There’ll be more productions”

“Yeah, but I feel like it was my fault” I said, biting down on a carrot. I hated those orange fuckers, but Chiron was watching me closely to make sure I ate them.

My friend rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You killed it” she shoved her face on the ice cream and raised her spoon at me “You wanna know why it didn’t work out?”

“Why?” I asked, placing my elbow on the table and resting my head on my hand, guessing the answer. I noticed Luke sitting on the Hermes table, he was staring at me, and I quickly looked away, feeling the heat rising on my cheeks.

“The costume design”

“The costume design” 

We spoke at the same time, and while I huffed, Silena gave me a proud smile.

“Exactly. No offense, but I had never seen something so terribly made. I mean,the dress you wore on the second act can’t be called a dress. That was a capital sin, that’s what it was”

“It was a low-budget production, Lena”

“Still. Clothes are worth going above the budget” her eyes acquired a particular spark and she dropped the spoon “Wanna see the new shoes I bought?”

“No” I said, chewing on my spinach. Now, spinach I loved as much as my hair.

Of course, she ignored me, and proceed to show me not one, but the five pair of shoes she bought.

_ I wish that Helldog had killed me. _

* * *

 

“Hey, Alex” Luke’s voice caught my attention. 

Annabeth and I were practicing. I was getting better at handling the trident, but I wasn’t perfect..

We both turned around in time to catch the bottles of water he threw at us.

“Hey” greeted my blonde friend, fixing her hair. It was a good thing her cheeks were already flushed from embarrassment.

I waved, too busy drowning with the water. I finished the bottle in a few gulps and immediately felt better. 

Annabeth and Luke were looking at me with wide eyes.

“What?” I asked.

“Uh,... nothing” said Annabeth.

“Hey, Anns. Could you…?”

She nodded and left with a small wave, picking up her dagger on the way.

“You ok?” I asked, wondering why he would want Annabeth to go away.

“Me? Yeah” he smiled, and my eyes were drawn to the scar on the left side of his face. I quickly looked away, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. “Chiron said you’re preparing for an audition. Something about kids. All my kids?”

I chuckled. His confusion was cute.

“All my Sons. Yes. It’s in two weeks.”

He scraped the back of his neck.

“You mind if I go with you? To the audition. I mean, I won’t be auditioning, of course, but you know,...so you won’t be alone”

I arched my eyebrows. Luke hadn’t asked to come to my previous audition for The Little Mermaid; he didn’t really seem interested in musical theatre in general, so it struck me as strange the sudden request.

“Why?”

He shrugged, looking into the tree line.

“Don’t know. I guess I don’t want you to get lost”

I didn’t say anything about Argos taking me and picking me up a block away from the place.

“You sure you’re ok?” I asked.

“Me? Yeah” he finally made eye contact, and something in those blue pools made me blush. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“You’re blushing”

“I’m not” I said, dropping my trident and covering my cheeks.

“You are”

“I’ve been training, moron”

He had the nerve to laugh, and a newfound confidence seemed to surround him.

He took a step closer and grasped my hand on a gentle grip.

“You’re adorable, Alex” he said quietly.

“You’re an idiot”

_ Nice answer, genius. _

He smirked and leaned down, until I could feel his breath and his lips barely brushed mine.

“But I could be your idiot”

And then he pressed his soft lips against mine.

* * *

 

I tried to call Silena and Karen through an Iris message, but the line was busy.

“It’s a boy emergency” I cried, and a line was opened. 

Two faces appeared in the water.

“Hey” greeted Karen, dropping her textbook.

Silena looked up and smiled, still applying her eyeshadow.

“What’s up, wifey?”

“Lukekissedme” I said, or squealed.

Silena messed up her makeup, and Karen screamed.

“About damn time” said the brunette, smiling brightly. “Our baby is growing”

“What was it like?”

I giggled and began to tell them the whole story.

“Cliché” Karen rolled her eyes.

“It was sweet” Silena disagreed.

I just smiled. It was a little uncomfortable since it was my first real kiss (those on stage didn’t count) and a little bit awkward, but it was perfect because of it.

* * *

 

**Six months later…**

 

I stretched and carefully moved the blue curtain, and as I had suspected it, the sun had yet to come out, although it was almost time for it to rise with the characteristic laziness of a winter morning in Camp.

I laid back in the bed and a pair of strong arms surrounded me, drawing me closer until my back hit a chest; I got comfortable, welcoming the extra warmt.

“It’s still early” Luke’s sleepy voice whispered in my ear “Go back…” he yawned “to sleep”

Smiling, I turned around and placed my own arms around his midsection. I thought of the day I first arrived, and how strong I had become since day. I had some muscle, and slightly darker skin due to all the training under the summer sun.

I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Luke’s lips, earning a sleepy smile. I tried to pull away, but Luke tightened his grip on me, burying a hand on my hair while the other caressed the side of my leg, sending shivers down my spine. I let my hand play with his short, sandy hair and the other rest on his chest, feeling his heartbeat, steady and strong.

I pulled back a little, finding a million dollar smile.

“I don’t mind waking up like this”

I rolled my eyes, and with a great amount of will, I separated from the refugee his arms offered and threw the blankets to the ground, knowing it was the only way that we would get up quickly. Luke grunted and covered his face with both hands while I climbed over him and placed my feet on the stone floor.

The cold assaulted me right away, and I trembled violently. At an amazing speed, I took off the sweater Luke had lended me the previous night and changed into my clothes in record time.

When I turned around, Luke was staring at me with a pawky smirk, while putting on his sweater. His hair was messy and the slumber persisted on his eyes. I turned around and began to make the bed so nobody would know we were here. We were forbidden from coming to Cabin 3

It was Poseidon’s Cabin, I a child of Apollo and Luke’s Hermes, so we couldn’t set foot in a cabin that wasn’t of our Godly parent, even less so sleep in them, especially if we weren’t half siblings; but ever since my first winter in camp, I had taken the habit of sleeping here.

Cabin 7 was beautiful, but the golden walls made it difficult to fall asleep. There was nothing I could do about it during the summer, when the cabin was full of life with my half siblings, but the rest of the year, when I was alone, I would sleep in Cabin Three. It wasn’t great when compared to Seven, but it had its own charm. The permanent scent of sea that would calm me down; the sea stars and sea horses made of ceramic on the grey walls, and the slightly hard beds, which was a big difference from the feather mattresses we had in Seven. These were better for my back.

Luke had taken the habit of making me company. He said I had nightmares, and they diminished considerably when he slept with me. Now I never remembered those nightmares, but ever since Luke began to sleep next to me, I woke up feeling well rested.

Sometimes, I could hear him waking up in the middle of the night, panting and with a dagger in hand, looking around like a madman, only to then put the weapon down and laid back down, hugging me tight while I pretended to be sleeping. I didn’t mention it because I knew he didn’t like talking about it, but the curiosity was killing me, specially on those days he would talk in his sleep. I once heard him mumble: “Leave her out of this”. I wondered what he dreamt about, but I pretended to not be aware, knowing he would feel terrible if I knew.

I let the pillow fall on top of the sheets and felt Luke’s arms around me. I laid back against him and kissed his forearm, which was holding my shoulder.

I guessed he must have had a nice dream this time, or at the very least, a dreamless night.

I felt relieved for him.

He leaned down until his cold breath hit my ear.

“Why do we have to get up so early?” 

He placed a kiss behind my ear and another on my neck.

I began to feel uncomfortable, so I took a step back and walked towards the door. Opening it without making a sound, I made sure the harpies weren’t around. I closed it again and Luke’s hand appeared in my line of vision on either side of my head.

“Because, as I have said more times than Annabeth can count” I began, softly hitting him in the ribs with my elbow “we’re not even allowed in here, and we have to get out before the others wake up”

He raised an eyebrow.

“ ‘All the others’? You mean, Annabeth, Clarisse and Mr.D?”

I looked him in the eyes and sighed. It was strange to be on camp while the others were away. Almost every campist had a family to return to, even Luke would leave for a week or two to visit his mother; and when it was just a handful of us, plus Chiron and the adorable Mr.D, things could get pretty boring pretty easily.

Chiron would teach Luke and I, (Annabeth would only come for the tests. She, like any Athena’s child, was capable of learning on her own. Luke was sure she was even a few years ahead of us) which was a bit more entertaining than going to an actual school. From math to history, Chiron knew everything. Hell, he was so good at teaching that I wasn’t so terrible at physics anymore. I still sucked, but not completely, and it didn’t bother me as much. Although there was nothing like the history lessons. From time to time, Chiron would come in the classroom wearing an actual armor and a sword in hand. We would smile, recognizing our favourite game,...besides ‘Capture the flag’, and Chiron would put on his best Snape face, waving the sword around and yelling “Be prepared, vile demigods! Time to test your knowledge¡”. He would call us randomly, give us a name, date or event, and we would have two minutes to write down all we knew about it. It was actually pretty fun, while Chiron spoke with a grave voice, saying that we didn’t have enough time, while we wrote as if our lives depended on it.

Sometimes, Clarisse would spend a few months with us, and she would also join in the games; those were the only moments in which we didn’t absolutely hate each other. 

The funny classes weren’t the only excitement I had got in two years. I had friends now, and a family,...a very big one.

I smile widely, thinking about my two best friends: Karen and Silena. They were both Aphrodite’s daughters, and to my surprise, they weren’t shallow like I expected them to be. Yes, they loved fashion and makeup, but they weren’t as self-centered as some of their siblings seemed to be. Karen had applied for Oxford, she was a physics genius. Silena played the cello like an angel, and she wanted to go to Juilliard. It was nice to just sit together at the docks or under some tree and just gossip and giggle like a normal teenager. We were always there for each other, even when we were apart.

“You ok?” asked Luke, sitting on the bed.

I sighed, nodding with a tired smile.

Thinking about Karen and Silena made me think about Grover. I missed him like crazy. He and Chiron had gone away at the end of the summer, and everything was much duller without my hairy friend.

I didn’t tell this to Luke though. I knew he still blamed Grover for what had happened with Thalia.

“Yeah. I’m just sleepy. Some air will help”

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, I left the Cabin.

I walk towards Cabin Seven and quickly take my towel, neceser and a change of clothes. I needed a shower before the rest got here.

* * *

 

When I came out, the sound of chattering and laughter brought a smile to my face.

Going out, I saw the campist arriving; they were running around greeting their friends and siblings.

I began my search, but they found me first.

Actually, they tackled me.

I fell to the ground tangled with another two bodies and we started laughing. I sat up and gave them a hug.

After helping them up, I watched with slight smugness hot they fixed their hair and smoothed their designer coats.

“That stain can come out?” I asked Silena, pointing to a random spot on her pale pink coat.

She looked down, panicking, only to then give me a slight push.

“Hilarious”

Karen tried not to laugh.

Silena rolled her eyes and I placed my arms around their shoulders, marching towards the Mess Hall.

“Oh, I’ve missed you! Gods! It’s been so dull without Grover and Chiron. I’m so bored I could even go shopping.”

I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it.

_ Fuck.Shit. _

Their faces brightened, and I had to cover their mouths with my hands before they began to yell.

Karen tossed it aside carelessly.

“Oh, Alex!” she said, her eyes shining with joy “There are so many stores in Olympus! And they got crazy sales! It’s going to be amazing”

Silena sighed in my hand, her mind drifting away to a world of fabric and designers of which I knew nothing about.

“But they’re Aphrodite's stores, aren’t they?”

Karen nodded vigorously.

I tried to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t understand how Karen and Silena adored their mother the way they did, they didn’t know her, and she had barely taken the time to claim them. After all the time I had spent here, watching demigods coming and going, and not all of them being claimed, I began to resent the Gods. It was something Luke and I only talked about in the solitude of the woods, when we were certain nobody was nearby, and yet, we talked in whispers, just in case.

Silena and Karen went to the Aphrodite's table and I to Apollo’s. Before I could sit, two pair of arms surrounded me in an uncomfortable bone-crushing hug.

“Look who’s here” Travis placed a rough kiss on my cheek.

“Our crime partner” Connor kissed my other cheek, but he was more gentle about it.

Behind us on Hermes’s table, I thought I heard Luke growling.

“Dummy One and Dummy Two” I smiled at them.

I was right about to ask them how they were doing when Mr. D began shouting for us to take our seats.

I sat at the end of the table. Will wasn’t here; he had written saying he was sick and couldn’t make it, and asking to get him something nice in Olympus. 

On the main table, I saw Chiron. I waved and he waved back, smiling at me. I really cared about him, but a small part, very small, still resented him. 

I noticed Grover wasn’t with him, which didn’t help my sudden mood.

Breakfast was loud, and I always enjoyed all the noise, it helped to keep me distracted.

Travis and Connor threw food at some Aphrodite and Demeter kids, and some of them took such offence they left the table and went to their respective cabins.

Luke kept on sending chivalrous smiles my way, and when I showed him the middle finger, he only laughed, making me laugh. He winked at me and I hid my face behind my hair, not wanting the wanker to notice the red on my face. It was like any other day at camp. 

We played to ‘Capture the Flag, and Annabeth’s Cabin won, which meant that Cabin Six would be captain the next summer.

By the end of the evening we all went to bed, eager for the visit to Olympus.

* * *

 

We were ready to leave before the clock hit eight. 

I was walking towards the bus next to Chiron, who was once again using his wheelchair. A centaur on the Empire State Building would be a little bit unusual.

“How have you been?” I asked as I gently guided the wheelchair, even though I knew it wasn’t necessary.

“I’ve been good, Alexandria. Thank you for asking” he answered, giving my hand a light squeeze over his shoulder “And you?”

Normally, when someone asked how you were doing, they wanted to hear that you’re fine; because they don’t really care about you, but when Chiron asked it meant he was genuinely interested in knowing. He worried about all the campist, and he was always trying to help us in any way.

“Bored” I sighed with resignation. He chuckled “Where’s Grover? Something happened?

I hadn’t had the chance to talk to him since the previous day, and I needed to know if my friend was alright. He had promised to come home for the holidays.

“He is fine, Alexandria” Chiron was really the only one allowed to use my full name “but he had to stay. Someone has to watch over our new friend while I watch over all of you”

I didn’t ask what friend he was talking about because I knew I wouldn’t get an answer.

“How are you and Luke doing?” he asked, moving around a bit so he could look me in the eyes,

I looked down at his warm brown eyes and couldn’t help but blush. Chiron was like a father for me, and if there was someone I would never speak about with him, that was Luke.

Looking up, I noticed we were standing next to the bus. I let Argos take care of Chiron and go in.

“Look! We’re here!”

I saw Luke sitting near the back. He had saved me a seat.

I sat next to him and he put his arm around me absentmindedly. He seemed distracted, but I didn’t think anything of it.

I spent the entire journey listening to Annabeth talk about architecture, but it was hard to pay attention. Luke didn’t utter a word and he seemed to be deep in thought. I waved my hand in front of his face. That seemed to work, bringing him back to reality. He shook his head as if he were trying to stay awake and gave me an expectant look.

“Why aren’t we moving?” he asked.

I frowned.

“ ‘Cause we’re here” I watched him with growing preoccupation while he looked around, clearly disoriented. “Everybody’s waiting”

We were the only ones in the bus, and Argos kept his eyes on us from the driver seat. 

“You feeling ok?” I asked, pressing my palm to his forehead and feeling his normal temperature.

He gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, which (even though he hid it well) shone with concern.

“ I’m good” he said, getting up and giving me his hand.

We reunited with the group at the doors of the Empire State Building. Chiron gaven us a curious look, but I pretended not to notice while we waited for the elevator. We got in on the last trip with Chiron, Mr D., Katie Gardner and one of her brothers.

The way to the sixth hundred floor was made in complete silence. As the doors opened, we begun the tour. The muses even made a small performance for us. I think it was a scene from ‘The Magic Flute’. Lee had been teaching me about Opera; it wasn’t my cup of tea; I fell in love with Musical Theatre ever since I went to see a production of Rent with Silena and Will, but I couldn’t deny how amazing opera singers were.

I had been learning some german and french with one of my sisters, Kyla, so I knew what the song was about, even if I didn’t fully understood every sentence. 

My siblings seemed to be captivated by the music, but most campers looked bored, probably because they didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. I’m sure some pop song would have been better to entertain everybody.

I suddenly sat up straight and looked around, noticing that Luke was missing. When had he left? I turned towards Silena.

“Hey, did you see where Luke went to?” I asked as quietly as I could.

She absentmindedly waved her hand at me, too focused on the performance.

Rolling my eyes I looked at Karen, whom had dozen off.

I stayed in my place and didn’t make a sound. I wasn’t sure what to do. We were supposed to stay together, and I’m pretty sure ‘dad’ would be pissed to know someone snuck out while his muses performed. I began to feel sick, I had a bad feeling. Maybe something had happened to him.

I shook my head, he probably needed to go to the bathroom. I always told him he had to go before we left camp, but it was like talking to a wall.

I tried to focus on the play and act normal.

Near the end I felt someone taking a seat next to me, and I turned to see Luke give me a quick smile.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“Had to answer mother nature’s call” he said, placing an arm around my shoulders.

I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

“You asked”

After the performance, Chiron gave us a tour of the place. It was huge, and with every house or store we passed, everything got more beautiful.

We saw the Temples of the Gods, but we couldn’t go inside. As we walked past the big palace we heard some yelling but we paid it no mind. The Gods always argued.

After a while we had lunch on a small park full of fountains with statues of minor Gods, and the wood nymphs danced and giggled around us, throwing olives and laurel leafs around.

When Chiron gave us the ok to go and explore, Silena and Karen took my hands and dragged me with them faster than you can say ‘Carolina Herrera’.

I turned to watch Luke and the Stoll brothers. They were smirking and waving at me, the bastards.

* * *

 

I walked next to my friends as we went from store to store.

I had some money to spare (luckily for me, they accepted all types of coin) so I bought a cleaning equipment for my trident.

Karen and Silena waited patiently as I wandered around the little shops. I knew they wanted to go to Aphrodite stores, but they seemed fine waiting for me.

“How are things with Aaron?” asked Silena, referring to Karen’s boyfriend.

He was her neighbor and a childhood friend, but Karen didn’t really seem interested on him.

My blonde friend shrugged.

“He’s fine. He’s helping his dad fix a car or something like that” she answered, picking up a spear and moving it around.

Neither Karen nor Silena liked weapons, and the first one only picked up one when she was trying to avoid eye contact.

Silena and I shared a look. It didn’t surprise us that she sounded so nonchalant when speaking of her first and only boyfriend.

A nymph walked past us, her green hair moving around with each step, and Karen tried not to look at her.

We knew Karen was lesbian, it was quite obvious once you actually got to know her. At first I thought she just liked to examine other girls outfits, but the way she hurriedly looked away when caught told us otherwise. We didn’t say anything because we knew she wasn’t comfortable talking about it. Silena said that Karen would talk to us when she was ready, not before.

Still, I made little efforts here and there to make her feel comfortable, to let her know it was ok.

“She’s hot” I said, carefully placing my new cleaning equipment on my green shoulder bag.

Her blue eyes met mine, and she shrugged, placing the spear back in its place. I could see the fear on those orbs, so I didn’t say anything else, afraid I had made her upset.

“I guess. Don’t let Luke hear you though.”she winked “You wanna anything else?”

I knew what she was really asking, so I gave a dramatic sigh.

“We can go”

* * *

 

I swear, every time I thought we were almost at the end of the row of stores, more appeared out of nowhere.

“So I said ‘Excuse me, darling, but those are NOT real Jimmy Choos’ What does he think I am? An idiot?”

Silena kept on ranting about some guy who tried to sell her some pair of heels for an excessive amount while I checked out a white and blue frock. The sleeves weren’t very long, barely two quarters, and the dark skirt was long enough for it to be proper for an audition. I had one coming up soon, and I didn’t have anything  to wear.

“Oh! Forgot to tell you!” I looked up while Karen stopped checking out a pair of skinny jeans to give Silena all of her attention “I met this guy at school. His name’s Brody and he plays football”

“Of course he does”

She ignored me, taking a olive green sweater dress and handing it to Karen.

“This one. Anyway, we’ve been going out for a couple weeks, and four days, six hours and thirty minutes ago he asked me to be his girlfriend” she squealed in excitement.

“What’s he like?” I asked, turning towards her with a small smile. Silena’s energy was contagious, and I loved seeing her so happy.

With dreamy eyes, she started talking about him; his brown eyes and red hair, how fit he was, and what a gentleman he is.

“I mean, who opens the door for a girl anymore? Nobody, that’s who. Except Brody”

Karen smiled while I tried to hide my amusement.

My blonde friend set her eyes on me.

“What about you, Alex? How’s things with Luke?”

They both were looking at me in expectation. I shifted my weight from one leg to the other, slightly uncomfortable. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about that kind of stuff, but they were my friends, and I knew they would never judge me.

“Everything’s fine” I said, trying to maintain eye contact “Not much to tell.”

There really wasn’t. We spent most of our time in camp, so date options were limited, and if we weren’t in some class with Mr.D (since Chiron had gone to that school, little Mr.Pleasantness was left with the tedious task of teaching math and english to a few kids with ADHD) we were training or helping the nymphs with something. There was our little habit of sleeping together on Cabin Three, but I wanted to keep that to myself.

“Have you two done it already?” Silena asked bluntly.

“Silena!” Karen reprimanded, inspecting a jacket.

“What? It’s been like what? Five months?”

My face went red, and I looked down, suddenly fascinated with my shoes.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about”

With an evil glint in her eyes, she began mimicking.

“OH! Luke! Yeah! Yeah!”

Karen and I blushed, and we both began walking away from Silena, while she followed us around.

Her arms encircled my waist, and my back hit her front.

“Mmm, right there!” she playfully bit my earlobe. “Yes!”

I just wanted someone to kill me, and by the looks of it, so did Karen.

The brunette loosened her grip on me, and I didn’t waste my chance of escaping. She gave us a wolfish grin.

“You got no shame” I said, trying to get my face back to its normal colour.

“I’m half greek. What you’all expecting?” she winked at us. Walking towards a mannequin, she inspected the pale pink dress “You still haven’t answered the question”

I looked towards Karen in need of help, but she seemed as curious as her sister.

I guess it's not such a big deal, they are my best friends after all.

“No, we haven’t” I muttered. Luke seemed to want to, but he understood that I wasn’t ready.

Karen shrugged.

“You don’t have to feel ashamed, Alex” she reassured me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah” agreed Silena, holding a dress identical to the one she saw on the mannequin with a triumphant smile “Everybody’s got their own pace. Don’t rush into something”

“Says the one that banged Codi on her third date” buffed Karen.

Silena placed her hands on her hips.

“Hey! It’s Brody, bitch. And if you saw him you would understand”

“I doubt it”

“And what a piece of meat he’s got, if you know what I mean” she wiggled her eyebrows.

Karen quickly changed the subject.

“What you got there?” she asked.

I showed her the frock, and she smiled.

“I knew you had a nice taste despite it all”

“Hey!” I tried to sound offended.

“I like it” nodded Silena. “Not too short but long enough. Try it on”

Before I could say anything, they shoved me inside the dressing room and closed the door.

I shook my head. Those two would never change.

I took off my sweater and jeans, only for the latter to get tangled with my converse.

“Fuck” I muttered, barely keeping balance.

“What was that?” before I could reply, Silena’s head made an appearance underneath the door. “Mmm, nice curves, mama. I’d hit that”

“Get out” I yelped, covering myself.

“It’s ok, Alex. Not everybody can be size zero. Not that I’m calling you fat or anything, not at all. Just,...”she sighed, frustrated “What I mean is,...forget it. You look nice without clothes”

We didn’t say anything for several seconds, just staring at each other.

“That came out wrong, didn’t it?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah”

“But you got what I mean?”

“Yeah. Spirits lifted. Now get out” I playfully kicked her head, and she slid out with a smile.

I looked at myself in the mirror. It was true I wasn’t a size zero, but it didn’t tend to bother me. One could easily feel too aware next to Karen and Silena, whom seemed to look ready to hit the runway all the time. I heard Karen say that I was developing an hourglass figure sometime last year. I wasn’t very tall either at 5’4, but getting jeans that weren’t too long and could go all the way up to my wide hips could be a nightmare.

I got out of my shoes and jeans and put on the frock.

Silena waited outside, checking her perfect manicure. She looked me up and down and gave a nod of approval.

“K, what do you think?”

Karen’s head sticked out of the other dressing room.

“Turn” I did as she said “I like it”

I changed again and waited for them to be done. I would never understand how they could buy so much. I doubted they got a chance to wear all of those clothes.

After we paid we had to head back to dinner, thankfully. 

“But we barely visited half the stores” complained my blonde friend, while we walked the same path as earlier.

I was happy it was done.

* * *

 

We weren’t allowed to sleep next to a boy who wasn’t a brother, but that didn’t stop Luke from sneaking out in the middle of the night.

I made room for him, and he placed his sleeping bag next to mine.

We didn’t say anything. He just took my hand and we looked at the stars above.

* * *

 

I woke up sometime later, when I felt the absence of Luke’s hand.

Through half-closed eyes, I saw him get up and grab his backpack. Looking around, he seemed to be checking that everybody still slept, and then he walked away.

I kept quiet and watched him go down the main street. The torches lighted the way, but soon I lost him out of sight.

I wanted to get up and follow him, but I was too tired, and before I could convince myself to go after him, I fell into Morpheus grasp again.

* * *

 

We left early after breakfast the next day.

I walked next to Annabeth as she talked about Olympus’s architecture, and what she would do differently while I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up.

I didn’t notice when Luke came back the previous night, but he was fast asleep next to me when Lee woke me up and gave me an earful about rules.

Annabeth took my hand and pointed to the road we were walking.

“I would change the cobblestone. This one doesn’t quite suit the place”

“Don’t let Zeus hear you” I said, giving her a slight push.

She smiled, walking into the elevator.

I saw her giving a longing look at the Athena’s temple.

“Do you think they would visit us if they could?”

“Yes, of course they would” I lied.

I really cared about Annabeth, and I didn’t want to break her heart again. She had a crush on Luke, and refused to talk to me for two months when he and I got together. Silena had tried to reassure me, saying that she would come around, but it didn’t wash the guilt away. 

In the end, Annabeth seemed to get over her jealousy, and we went back to spending afternoons together on the camp bay; she tried to teach me ancient greek while I stared into the water. Everything was fine, as long as Luke and I didn’t show any affection in front of her. Luckily, he understood perfectly, and didn’t want to make Annabeth feel bad.

We sat together on the bus, and she didn’t waste a minute, taking a new book out of her backpack.

I placed the bag with my new dress between my legs and turned towards Karen and Silena, whom had take seat behind us.

“We forgot about the gummy bears” I said.

They both groaned, looking at the building with regret. Olympus had the best gummy bears in the world

A small package was dropped on the blonde’s lap, and we looked up to see Luke smirking down at us.

“You’re welcome” he said. Then, he handed me a bag “You left this”

“It’s not mine” I tried to give it back, but he raised his hands”

“Got your name on it” With that, he walked to the far end of the bus and took a seat next to a kid from the Hermes cabin.

We didn’t waste anytime. I offered some gummy bears to Annabeth and she accepted without looking up, so I simply placed a few on the book. She took one and bit its head.

“Thanks”

“Let me know if you want more”

She absentmindedly waved her hand at me, and I fought back a smile. I doubted she would ever change that habit.

The bus started moving, and soon enough it was filled with noise.

I opened the bag and saw a pair of black stilettos with a small note attached to the inside of the bag.

‘To Alex: From your favourite cousin’  it said .

I frowned and passed the note to the girls.

“Don’t recognize the handwriting” said Silena, giving it back.

I didn’t think much of it.

The girls and I were laughing at a joke Travis and Connor had made as we passed Coney Island when a thunder made its way through the sky. We didn’t pay it any attention at first, but when the second one, stronger than the first, rumbled as the could turned grey, we all went quiet.

We looked out the window in time to see the first drops of water hitting the glass, and the sea unleashing its wrath.

Argos pressed the gas.

My eyes fell upon Luke, whom seem quite nervous all of the sudden, just like the rest of us.

Another thunder broke through the sky.

_ Well, shit. _

 

 

 


	6. Alexandria: Saviour of crying orphans

Chapter 5: Alexandria, saviour of  me ...crying orphans.

  
  
  
  


**February.**

 

I couldn’t stop laughing at Luke’s grumpy expression.

It was opening night of a small production of “You can’t take it with you” and he had missed the entire first act. Turns out I gave him the wrong schedule.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t very good” I tried to comfort him.

It was true. I hadn’t been at its finest. I had barely come out of a cold, and I was so nervous that I had forgotten a few things. Thanks the Gods for improvisation.

Lee wouldn’t be proud, and this meant that he would make me work harder.

“Don’t bring yourself down” he said, placing an arm around my shoulders.

Almost unconsciously, I leaned into his side. The night was chilly, and I didn’t want to get sick again.

“Whatever” I replied, letting my eyes take in my surroundings.

Mortals walked around us, all of them too focused in their own world. Almost everybody had umbrellas. It hadn’t rained that day, but the weather had been off ever since december.

Chiron hadn’t said a word about it, and he hadn’t come back to camp for easter, but I knew he and Grover were worried about all these changes. Those two weeks in winter, the centaur kept looking up, as if expecting for Zeus himself to come down and kill us all. He had even established a night patrol schedule for all the cabins, one that would begin again when all the campers returned in june.

The sea had been quite aggressive as well, but I tried to ignore it. The Gods were always fighting, but a small part of me wanted to dive into the deep waters and hide there.

For the past few months, I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that I was being watched closely, that someone or something was waiting in the shadows.

It wasn’t my secret admirer, that much I knew. He would always sit in the back and leave five minutes before the end, I would go backstage to change and someone would hand me a bouquet of white roses with a small note of congratulations. He always called me “Siren”, and I always hid the flowers from Luke. I wanted to throw them away, but they were so beautiful, and as haunting his eyes were, I always did my best when I felt him watching. It was all a bit messed up, which is why I never told anyone about him. Ever since december, he had stopped coming, and the only flowers I got were from Luke. A part of me was glad, but a bigger one wondered what had happened to him. 

I was losing my focus and the nightmares didn’t help either.

I dreamed with a horse and an eagle fighting in a beach, but I could never reach the horse in time. After that night, I only dreamt about an island. It was small and I was stuck there, nothing but ocean wherever I looked. At least it helped me sleep better, but sometimes I could hear the echo of a dark voice calling out to me.

“Alex?”

I didn’t realize I had drifted off until I collided with someone.

“Oh Gods! I am so sorry!” I apologized to the poor woman, kneeling down to help her pick up her groceries. Luke was doing the same, trying to hide his smirk.

The woman gave me an odd look, and her eyes sparkled with recognizon.

“Did you say ‘Gods’?” she asked, moving her curly brown hair out of her face “As in plural?”

Luke didn’t say anything, chasing after an apple.

“Uh, no. I said ‘God’ “ I smiled nervously, placing her things inside the paper bag and handing it to her “There’s only one, I believe”

I offered my hand and she accepted it, getting up from the hard pavement.

I dusted off my green coat (a present from Silena) and looked back at the woman.

“Again, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention”

The woman gave me a kind smile, the type of kind that only the best people had.

“It’s fine, nobody was harmed”

“Here” said Luke, walking back towards us with the apples in hand. He placed them inside the bag the woman had in her arms with his million dollar smile “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“I’m sure, thank you”

“Do you need us to carry those for you?” I offered. I felt terrible, and I wanted to make it up to her somehow.

“No that’s fine, really…uh...”

“Oh! I’m Alex. This is Luke” I introduced us, reading the question on her hazel eyes.

“You’re very kind, Alex, but I can manage. My name is Sally”

“Sure?” I asked once more.

She chuckled.

“Yes. Is she always like this?”

“Sometimes” shrugged Luke.

I sent him a glare.The woman gave me a curious look.

“You look familiar…”

I didn’t know what to say. I had never seen her in my life.

“She’s into musical theatre. Maybe you’ve seen in her in a play” mentioned Luke.

The woman, Sally, didn’t seem convinced.

“Maybe” She kept on looking at me “ You have pretty eyes. They remind me of my son’s”

What was I supposed to say to that?

“Thanks” it sounded more like a question.

She seemed to have returned to earth, and checking her wrist watch she paled “I gotta go. Thank you for your help; it was nice meeting you both”

“Sorry again” I called after her as she walked down the street.

We stood there, like idiots, for about a minute.

“We still got time before Argos comes to take us back. Wanna eat something?”

I gave Luke a peck.

“You know me so well.”

I jumped on his back and he laughed, placing his hands on my legs and walking towards the closest McDonald’s

* * *

 

I was braiding Annabeth’s hair. 

The sun hadn’t set yet, and we were making the most of it. We were sitting near the strawberry fields.

I took a moment to adjust my scarf, I didn’t want to jeopardize my voice. Lee was very strict about it .

“You’ve been quiet” I said lightly.

I knew there was something bothering her, but I didn’t want to pressure her into telling me.

“It’s nothing”

I tried not to roll my eyes, but I couldn’t contain my smile. I was glad she couldn't see me. I finished one of the braids and grabbed the rest of her hair, starting a new one.

_ 3...2...1… _

“I’m worried” she began with an exasperated sigh, like she just wanted to tell me so I would finally shut up.

_ You don’t say. _

She gave me her termos and I took a sip of her delicious tea.

“About what?”

“About whatever has been going on with the Gods” her grey eyes went up to the sky, and I lost grip of her hair. I had to bite my tongue to not yell at her for moving.

I undid the braid and started over.

“They fight all the time” I said, shrugging.

“Yeah” she said slowly, sipping from her tea “But this is not the same. I think it has to do with the prophecy”

“What prophecy?” I frowned.

Annabeth froze and tired to stand, but I yanked her hair, keeping her in place. I wasn’t doing this a third time. She could either stay still for five minutes or go around  with only half her hair done.

“Forget it”

I quickly finished the second braid and tied it. Grabbing Annabeth by the shoulders, I leaned around her to look her in the eyes.

“Annabeth, what prophecy?

She avoided eye contact.

“I promised Chiron I wouldn’t tell anyone”

In times like these, I was thankful for my sister Kyla’s acting lessons.

“But I thought you trusted me”

I put in my best wet puppy face and ignored the guilt of playing the guilt card on her. Annabeth seemed to get along with me better than with her own siblings (when I wasn’t too annoying), and I was abusing of her trust.

“I…

“I won’t tell, I promise” I smiled reassuringly.

“It’s about a child of the Big Three”

I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to continue.

“It talks about the possible end of the world when this kid turns sixteen”

I digested the new information and nodded.

“Ok; but, why are you worried? The Gods vowed not to have more children”

“And then Thalia was born”

“Thalia is a tree” I quickly regretted my words upon seeing the expression on her face “I’m sorry Annabeth, but that’s how it is”

She fidgeted with her fingers.

“Chiron thinks he found another”

“Another kid of the Big Three?”

My friend nodded and I moved so I could sit in front of her.

“Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this new kid is the one of the prophecy, right?” I gently grabbed her chin and looked into her scared silver eyes “Don’t worry, for all we know, this could happen tomorrow or it could happen in the next century. We might not even be alive for this”

One look was enough to let me know I hadn’t eased her fears. Maybe if I helped her to understand it, she would feel better.

I sighed, I wasn’t about to let her go around scared of something for no reason.

_ “ _ Do you remember the prophecy _?” _

She nodded and began to recite it:

_ “Two half-blood of the eldest Gods _

_ Shall reach sixteen against all odds _

_ To choose weather to rule or to serve _

_ Three times allegiances must change _

_ They will see the world in endless sleep _

_ The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap _

_ A single choice shall end his days _

_ Olympus to preserve or raze.” _

“So it could be any demigod. ‘Eldest Gods’ means any of the twelve original, right?”

She nodded.

“Yes, but ‘Gods’ is male”

“And your godly parent is a woman” I tried to lighten the mood “Honestly, Annie,  _ I  _ should be more worried than _ you _ ”

She swallowed, and the scared look on her face made my heart freeze.

“Chiron said that it was probably a child of the big three”

“So? I still don’t understand why you care so much. The burden won’t be on…

“He also said that you and I will play a big part in it” she blurted out at the speed of light.

“...your shoulders. Oh”

I looked to my left, where I could see the stables.

This was all new information for me. I didn’t know for how long Annabeth had known about this prophecy, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“You got to promise you won’t tell anyone, not even Luke” she begged, taking hold of my hands.

We stared into each others eyes for a minute. I didn’t know what to make of this new information. The idea of me being involved in a prophecy was scary, something I never thought would happen, but the thought of Annabeth being a part of this sacred me more. In these past two years, I had grown to love her like a sister.

I pulled her into an embrace.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you”

She wrapped her shorter arms around me and didn’t let go.

* * *

 

**April.**

  
  
  


“ _ And ready to know what the people know, _

_ asking my questions and get some answers. _

_ What’s a fire and why does it- what’s the word? _

_ Burn?” _

I tried not to look at the sheet in front of me as I reached the ending. It wasn’t my first time playing Ariel, but this new production was bigger than the first one I had been in, and even though I used to know this music by heart, I didn’t seem to be doing it right.

_ “When’s it my turn? _

_ Wouldn’t I love, love to explore the shore up above? _ ”

I messed up that last note. It sounded nice, but there was something missing, I just knew it.

“ _ Out of the sea, _

_ Wish I could be, _

_ Part of your world” _

I sighed, running my eyes through the paper in front of me.

Growing up, Little Mermaid was my favourite film. Who wouldn’t love to be a redhead and have a tail? When I played Ariel the first time I was ecstatic, I didn’t care that the production wasn’t successful, I was happy to have portrayed this character, and I had given it all my effort. 

When Lee told me about this bigger production of the same tale, I didn’t hesitate to prepare an audition. Then, rehearsing started, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get completely into character.

“Need a hand?”

I turned around and saw a tall guy leaning against a tree. He was blonde and had blue eyes. When had a new camper arrived? Hi curls and tanned complexion made me suspect he could be a new brother. He wasn’t wearing the camp t-shirt either, though I couldn’t blame him. Orange wasn’t flattering, no matter who wore it.

“What?”

There was something off about him. He had an easy smile, but his eyes showed such a sadness, as if he had lived through some tragedies.

He pointed to the paper in my hand.

“You’re not getting it”

“What is there to get? Ariel is a fifteen year old who wants to abandon her family for a guy she has never talked to, just ‘cause he’s hot”

He smiled, walking towards me.

I suddenly remembered my mother, and how she had always said that I shouldn't talk to strangers, but these guy radiated a serene vibe, and I didn’t feel threatened by his presence. Besides, who would want to hurt me? He couldn’t be a monster in disguise, we were still within the camp’s borders.

“She’s a girl who’s thirsty for knowledge. She’s innocent, so she expects the best from people, and she is fascinated by the world of men, just like nowadays people are fascinated by mermaids. She saw Eric in a vulnerable moment, so she has seen who he truly is.

I didn’t say anything, weighing his words.

“In any case” he kept talking, snatching the music sheet from my hands and looking it over “This particular song doesn’t mention white Aladdin; it’s about how she yearns to be part of something else, how she wants to learn from us. I’m Fred, by the way”

I shook his hand, while considering what he had said.

“Alex”

“The last bit is the one suffering the most”   
“Hey” I complained, Grabbing the sheet from him “Who are you? Alan Menken? I’ve played this character before, I know what I’m doing.”

I didn’t know what I was doing, but my pride was too big to admit that to a stranger. 

He smiled, as if he knew something I didn’t

“You forgot her essence” he said, matter of factly

“I didn’t”

“Let me rephrase: you changed since the last time you played this character, so it’s harder to get in sintony with her”

Maybe what he was saying made a little sense.

His blue eyes remained on my face, they showed kindness.

I looked to my left. I couldn’t see, but I could hear the waves not so far. The sound was mesmerizing.

“What are you thinking about?”

Fred’s soft voice brought me back to reality. I could see in his eyes that he knew what my answer would be.

I longed for the sea, for some strange reason, but I didn’t dare to go near it. I didn’t understand why. Most of the time I wanted to run to it, but sometimes I couldn't even stand the smell of the salty water, and the sight angered me greatly.

Today, was one of those normal days where I wanted to go.

“Whatever it is, keep it in mind and sing again. From ‘what would I give’ ”

Trying not to think too much about the idea of taking advice from a complete stranger, I did as he said.

I instantly felt better. I wasn’t playing Ariel anymore, I was Ariel, and I wanted to go into the sea and learn everything I could.

“Much better” clapped Fred, flashing me a bright smile. His teeth were so white it almost hurt my eyes. “You still need to improve your breath control though. Do you want to sing it again?”

With a quick nod, we went through the songs once more. It felt easier, and I was actually enjoying myself. Fred gave me some good tips, and I wished Lee was here. He would have loved a lesson with Fred.

“So,.. did you arrive today? I didn’t see you in the Mess Hall?” I asked, turning my back to him.

I was looking for the script, which laid on the grass. I kneeled down to grab it.

“Your father would be proud”

A golden light surrounded me, and I didn’t waste time in getting up and turning around.

“What?”

His smile was ever present.

“You have an interesting future ahead of you, Alexandria. Blood runs deep; your family knows of forgiveness, but don’t take them for granted”

“What?” I repeated.

“ALEX”

I turned for a second upon hearing Luke calling and when I felt a wave of heat and a golden light surround me.

Fred was gone.

I stared wide eyed at the spot where he had been standing. There was no sign of his presence.

What did he mean? Why would he mention my father? How could he say such a thing?

Before I could think too much about it, I heard Luke calling for me.

I met him halfway through the woods.

“Are you ok?” he asked, taking notice of my expression.

His hands cupped my face, but I escaped his grip.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

His eyes scanned our surroundings, as if expecting someone to appear. I wondered if he had seen Fred as well, but he would have told me if a new camper had arrived.

His eyes landed on mine once more and he smiled. I had never minded his scar, but for some reason I found myself shivering. There was something in that smile that I didn't’ like.

“No reason”

He placed his arm around my shoulders and lead me to the cabins.

As I prepared to go to bed, I thought of Fred. I didn’t tell Luke about him; I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea.

How had this guy snuck up on me and then disappeared after a comment like that?

_ “I should have asked more questions. _ ” Was my last thought as I dozed off.

* * *

 

**June.**

  
  


I sat next to Silena while she switched the sword from one hand to the other,...and again, and again, and again. She was clearly uncomfortable.

I had asked Luke to teach her at least a few basic moves, but she didn’t see the point in it.

To my right, Karen had long since fallen asleep on the ground.

I leaned down and took a small stick out of her hair.

“Maybe the sword is too heavy for you” I said, suppressing a yawn.

She gave me a funny look.

“There’s such a thing?”

I tried not to laugh.

“We’ll get you a new one tomorrow. Maybe, if you’re nice, Beckendorf will paint the handle pink for you”

Her eyes lit up at the idea.

I had missed their company in the past few months. I had Annabeth, but it wasn’t the same. I was thankful for Iris messages, but it wasn’t as good as having these two right in front of me, in person.

Ever since Annabeth had told me about this prophecy, I had been on edge. The nightmares got worse. If Luke had noticed, he hadn’t said anything; he was too engaged in his own little world. He had bags under his eyes, and it had gotten worse after he returned from visiting his mother. I was worried about him, but I was also glad he was somewhat distracted enough to not notice my changes.

He was not too happy. His nightmares had gotten worse, and he didn’t like me knowing about them. I told him to suck it up

Silena and Karen were a good distraction. They were always talking and demanding attention, which didn’t allow me to duel in my inner demons. I often wondered if the guy from the woods had something to do with those. He had been quite weird, and I was stupid enough to trust him. He could be one of the kids from the prophecy for all I know, and I let him go.

Shaking my head, I tried to focus on my current task.

We stared at the darkness ahead of us in silence. On the distance, we could hear the other Aphrodite's and Apollo’s kids walking around. Chiron said that it was part of our training, but I didn’t believe him.

I had mentioned it to Luke, whom had shrugged and replied with a “maybe”.

I still had to visit Chiron. I had refused to see him these past few days. I remembered Annabeth’s words, Chiron knew she and I would take part on the scary prophecy, and still he decided to keep me in the dark. How would I prepare if I didn’t know anything? Sure as hell I was planning on surviving the upcoming shitstorm, but a little heads up from my favourite teacher would have been nice. 

Ever since I had found out about the prophecy, I had been training nonstop. Luckily, there weren’t many people at camp until two weeks ago, so I had had the arena all for myself, and Luke, of course. He didn’t ask any questions regarding my new schedule, and insisted on staying up with me training until we dropped. We would fall asleep as soon as our head hit the pillow on Cabin 3 and we would repeat the same thing day after day.

Even though I was exhausted, it wasn’t enough to keep my nightmares at bay. It was almost the same as always, but recently something had changed. I was still all alone on a small island, and everywhere I looked I could only see the sea, and on the horizon, what looked like black mist. The mist never got to close to the island, but I found myself trying to reach it more than once. Everytime, horses would appear and block my path.

I had mentioned it to Luke, and he had gone pale.

I didn’t want to think about it. I was scared of what was in store for us.

“I wonder if he could also add a few amethysts” Silena pondered, studying the sword.

I tried to smile.

* * *

 

_ This time, I couldn’t see nor hear anything. Not blinding sun, not waves. I couldn’t even see my hands, which I waved right in front of my face. Nada. _

_ I spun around, but it was no use. _

_ A shiver ran up my spine and a devastating sense of horror began to take over me. _

_ Starting to panic, I ran. _

_ My heart was pounding and I could feel a sense helplessness creeping up on me. _

_ I  heard a deep, rumbling voice, but I couldn’t make out what it was saying. _

_ I didn’t know where I was going nor did I care; I just wanted to get away from that voice. I just wanted some light. The absence of the sun and sea were unsettling, and now I just wanted to dive into the deepest parts of the ocean and never come out again. _

_ “Come to me, Alexandria” I heard the voice, much closer than what I would have liked. _

_ All of the sudden, my steps became slower and slower, until it seemed like I wasn’t moving at all. _

_ A dark chuckle travelled across the space towards me and I froze. Whatever it was, it was too close; there was no point on running. _

_ Deciding that I wouldn’t go down without a fight, I tried to locate the voice. _

_ “Oh, that is useless. I am nowhere” spoke the voice. _

_ How did he… _

_ “I have been watching you, Alexandria Agapov” the voice sounded right behind me, and my eyes widened “You despise the Gods and everything they represent.” _

_ I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. _

_ “Join my forces, Alexandria, and I will make you a queen” _

_ A soft breeze flew by. _

_ “You will say ‘yes’ to me” _

_ “N-no” I muttered. _

_ Even though I was terrified, I could still process what the voice had said. Yes, I wasn’t very fond of the gods, and yes, getting rid of them would be nice; but something about that voice didn’t sit quite well with me, and I just wanted it to stay away from me. _

_ “Please” _

_ A neigh was heard, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a dim light, and a horse made out of water running towards me. _

_ All of the sudden, my feet could move again, and I ran towards the animal without a second thought. _

_ The presence seemed to have fled, but still I didn’t stop. I jumped on the horse and I let him take me away. _

 

 

I woke up covered in sweat. 

I sat on my bed and rubbed my eyes, quickly scanning the room. My siblings were fast asleep, snoring like there was no tomorrow.

“Are you ok, Alex?”

I gave a little jump, not expecting to hear anything.

I turned my head and smiled at Will, whom was rubbing his sleepy eyes with his fist. He looked adorable.

“Um, yeah. Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep” I whispered, standing up and walking to his bed. I arranged the bedsheets around him and moved his blonde locks out of his face.

He nodded and gave me a tired smile.

“Ok”

He closed his eyes and I stood up.

The sun was starting to rise, and it wouldn’t be long before breakfast was served.

I got dressed and slowly walked out, careful to no wake anyone else.

I could see some campists from Ares  and Demeter cabin walking around; they were coming back from patrol.

I walked down the steps of the porch and headed towards the arena.

I absentmindedly played with my necklace as I strolled. I couldn’t remember what that voice sounded like, only that it wasn’t something I wanted to repeat.  

I entered the arena and immediately took notice of Luke, whom was practicing with his sword.

“Why are you up so early?”

He jumped and turned around, surprised to see me.

There were bags under his eyes, but the haunted expression on his face made my heart clench.

Luke was not just my boyfriend, but also one of my closest  friends, and the fact that he was hiding something from me hurt a little. I didn’t want to pressure him though; I knew how awful it was to talk about something you don’t want to. I also knew he would tell me when he was ready. I couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated though. I wanted him to trust me with everything.

_ It’s not fair when you have your own secrets,  _ I told myself.

“Couldn’t sleep.” He answered, grabbing a bottle of water.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Normally, he would only deny it and say that he just couldn’t conceive sleep, but this time he surprised me by nodding his head.

“Wanna talk about it?” I asked, stretching my arms.

He didn’t say anything right away, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes either.

A cold breeze flew by and a shiver ran up my spine.

I kneeled down to tie my sneakers and when I got up, Luke picked me up and smashed his lips against mine.

He took me by surprise again and the sun had yet to rise. We had kissed countless times, but never like this. It was almost as if it were the last time. He held onto me like a lifeline.

My feet weren’t touching the ground so I wrapped my legs around his narrow hips and closed my eyes, returning the kiss wit the same ferocity.

My hands caressed his face, the skin on his left side was softer due to his scar, but I never minded it.

His hand gripped the locks at the base of my neck and I moaned. He took his opportunity, invading my mouth with his tongue.

I tried to put my feet on the ground (I wasn't exactly a lightweight) but he just held on to me with more strength. We separated gasping for air.

_ Well, shit. _

His forehead touched mine but I kept my eyes closed.

“You know I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, right?”

I frowned. How bad could his dream had been that made him act like this?

“Right?”

“Yeah. I know”

I could hold my ground pretty well, but I didn’t say that. He needed that comfort right now, he needed to reassure himself that he could protect me from,...whatever he was afraid of, and I wasn’t about to start an argument about it right now.

I briefly wondered if he also knew about the prophecy.

I was glad the Stoll brothers weren’t around. They would have teased us relentlessly.

Luke put me down.

“So I take it you don’t want to talk about it?” I ask, taking off my necklace, feeling the trident growing to my height.

“What are  _ you  _ doing up so early?”

I shrugged.

“I just woke up and decided to enjoy the peace”

Maybe I was a little bit of a hypocrite.

Luke grabbed his sword as I lunged towards him.

* * *

 

The beautifully haunting sound of the ‘Schindler's List’ theme was muffled by the water of the lake.

Silena was practicing for a contest. She insisted that the piece wasn’t ready, while I thought perfection couldn’t be improved, but I guess if the interpreter didn’t feel it right, then it wasn’t ready.

I waved at a naiad that swam past me.

I really enjoyed swimming. It made me feel alive, and all the creatures here were so kind and playful, that coming down here was becoming one of the best parts of my day.

I didn’t know I could swim. I found out by accident a few weeks ago.

I was sitting on the dock behind Annabeth, and she read a book as I braided her hair when, out of nowhere, Clarisse ran past us and pushed us into the water.

My blonde friend knew how to swim, but I panicked in the spot, since I didn’t know how, or so I thought.

Once Annabeth’s banshee yell caught my attention, I noticed I wasn’t drowning. I was actually floating. I didn’t know how but I didn’t even need to try; the movements came naturally, and by the time Travis jumped into the water to help me out, I was already climbing up back to the dock all by myself.

Luke had been furious when he heard, but all his anger vanished when I told him what had happened. He knew I couldn’t swim, he had even offered to teach me in the past. While the rest of camp didn’t thought much of it, Annabeth, Luke, Connor and Travis found it odd that I had taught myself how to swim in seconds.

Connor had suggested a boost of adrenaline, and Annabeth had agreed, but I knew she really didn’t believe that theory.

She and I had gone back to the lake one afternoon, as everybody else had dinner. I was, in fact, able to swim. Annabeth had ran off, probably to talk to Chiron via Iris message, but I had stayed in the water; it felt too nice and I never wanted to leave.

She did came back a few minutes later, with a frustrated expression on her face. I guessed Chiron hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

There was something about being down here that made me feel powerful, like I was invincible. I didn’t feel tired, it was almost like drinking ten cups of coffee, something I had learned was a terrible idea, especially for a demigod.

I heard a splash and looked up. The way the last rays of sunshine barely filtered the water was beautiful. I knew I had to ge out soon, but I was tempted to remain here.

A hand grabbed mine, and I turned to see Silena. I smiled at her, but I wasn't sure she noticed. Her hand moved up to my arm and she started swimming up, pulling me with her.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” she practically yells at me once our heads break to the surface.

“What? I was just swimming” I don’t understand the reason behind her anger, but I hope she decides to spare my life.

“I thought you were dead” she doesn’t lower her voice, stamping her hands against the water.

I wanted to tell her to calm her tits down, but I figured she wouldn’t appreciate it.

“I wasn’t gone that long”

“It was over five minutes, Alex” she sounded hysteric.

Five minutes may not sound like a lot, but most people would probably pass out after that period of time.

“I’m sorry. I promise I was fine” I try to reassure her.

“I hate you” she sighs, but I can see the relief on her face.

“The feeling is mutual” I smirk, earning a splash of water on my face.

“Let’s go. We have to change. Gods forbid we go to the Mess Hall in this state”

* * *

 

I let out a chuckle as El Jefe sighed.

“Oh man! That’s so refreshing” said the pegasus as I washed him.

I scratched him behind his ears without stopping.

Silena had convinced me and Karen to help her bathe all the pegasuses...we’ve been regretting it for the past hour and a half.

“Studying dark matter would be easier” muttered my blonde friend, careful of her sister sharp ear.

I giggled.

“This crazy girl better stay away from me” said another pegasus, Blackjack, looking at Karen.

“Alex, that thing is looking at me” Karen leaned in closer.

“Thing?” Blackjack was clearly offended, but Silena walked towards him and took care of him.

I didn’t say anything around the pegasuses, I only wished they would remain silent while I was near them. It was almost like asking Mr.D to change his diet coke for water.

Hoping is nice and free.

“Did you take your sword to Beckendorf?” I asked Silena, trying to distract myself.

Ever since I had woken up that morning, a bad feeling had settled in my stomach. The previous night had been rough; I barely slept, and whenever I closed my eyes I would hear that same voice. This time there was no horse to save me.The clouded sky wasn’t helping my mood. Something bad was coming our way.

Silena scrunched her nose.

“Yes. Is he always so rude?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised at her question. Charles Beckendorf wasn’t a talker, but he was polite and generous. He was the only one I trusted with my trident. He was humble and a hard-working guy, and my friend’s inquiry made me question her sanity.

“Um,...he’s usually nice. Why? What did you say?”

Silena could be quite imposing with her opinions, it wouldn’t be the first time she bumped heads with another camper.

“I only suggested a change of wardrobe and some make up. Honestly, I don’t understand his reaction.”

Knowing Silena, she must have been pretty crude about it.

Karen gave me a look.

“What?” asked the brunette, stopping mid task.

“Hey”complained Blackjack.

“Nothing” I shrugged, squeezing the sponge.

“Alexandria”

“That’s not my name” I sang with a goofy smile.

Karen snorted, and Silena placed her hands on her hips.

“Spit it out. Now”

Karen and I shared another look.

“Well…”I started, playing with the sponge “You can be a little too much sometimes”

“Too much?” she seemed genuinely confused.

“Yeah. We know you have good intentions, but sometimes, you can come across as…”

“A heartless cunt” finished Karen.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting that word to come out of her.

“Language” reprimanded Silena, frowning. She thought about our words for a while “Well, I didn’t realize that”

“It’s ok. Just try to be more careful around those who don’t know you too well”

“Ok...Even if I think they need an emergency makeover?”

“Always be polite about it”

“Alex, I love you, but you look like a fury. Can I please do your makeup?”

Karen snickered.

“She’s got a point”

“That’s progress, I guess. And, no”

* * *

 

A thunder lit up the sky, and I was thankful for the camp’s borders, which kept the rain out.

I tried to muffle a small moan as Luke’s lips descended down my throat.

“Someone will see” I complained, deciding that I had to be the one using that little thing called brain.

“No, they won’t” said Luke, pressing me flat against his chest and sucking on the junction of my shoulder and neck.

“Luke, stop”

He listened, moving away. His hair was messy and his cheeks were red. I probably looked a little bit like him.

“I’m sorry. I got carried away”

I tried not to smile.

“You would’ve been sorry if you hadn’t stopped”

He laughed.

“I’m sure I would”

I was ready to head to bed when I saw Luke waving from outside my window. I made sure no one had noticed me leaving and we sat there for a few minutes, just talking about nothing and everything.

“Shouldn’t you be on patrol?”

It was nice to hear him laugh for a change.

“No. Chiron called it off. Annabeth didn’t seem quite happy about it; I think she’s talking to him”

We heard a cry, and we both stared in its direction.

I saw two figures heading towards the big house. One of them was screaming.

Without hesitation, Luke and I ran towards the figures.

They both seemed to be wet, which meant they were outside, and one of them was unconscious.

My eyes widened.

“¡GROVER!” I sped up, desperate to check on my friend.

The other figure, which was closer to me, fell, but I caught him before he hit the floor.

So it was a boy.

He was crying, calling for his mother and wet to the core. It broke my heart.

Luke took a hold of Grover, but I barely noticed. I was only aware of the boy in my arms.

“It’s ok. It’s gonna be ok” I tried to reassure him, but he wasn’t listening to me.

I stood up, pulling him with me. He was holding something big and pointy, but I paid it no mind. I needed to get him to Chiron.

I dragged him with me towards the Big House, and he followed as best as he could. He seemed exhausted, but kept on screaming for his mother, blindly looking around him.

We reached the porch of the Big House and I was ready to kick the door open when Annabeth opened it.

“Move your ass”

She did as I told her and I walked in with the boy.

Mr.D got up from his armchair.

“What do you think you’re doing, Andrea? Now the floor is covered in mud”

Chiron’s head appeared from the kitchen.

“It’s him” said the blonde, approaching us.

“Hush, Annabeth. Help Alexandria; take him upstairs.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character needs no introduction ;)  
> I was planning on having this chapter posted on christmas or new year’s eve, but for some reason even though I knew what I wanted to happen, I couldn’t put it into words.  
> I’m actually happy for that. Even though it didn’t go the way I planned, it has some scenes I would have regretted to not add. I also introduced two characters I was planning on saving up for later, but hey, again, I liked it.  
> What’s more important: did you guys liked it?  
> I made a small change on the prophecy, what did you think of that?   
> Let me know everything on the comments.  
> Thanks a lot for reading! I promise we’re getting closer to the good stuff, and a few more questions need to arise before you can find out the truth about Alex *inserts evil laugh*  
> Have a nice day/afternoon/night :)
> 
> PS: Is there any ‘The Walking Dead’ fans around here? I’m writing a Carl/Oc story, and you’re more than welcome to check it out. It’s called “La Vie En Rose” and you can find it on my profile.


	7. I need a DNA test

VI:  I Need a DNA Test

  
  


 

**June.**

  
  


I stood on the doorway and watched as Chiron worked his magic on the new kid.

The poor child was soaked to the bones, and it was obvious he had been crying before I found him.

It was quite heartbreaking to watch. I had no idea what he had gone through, but I wished I could find a way to comfort him.

“Is he the reason why you and Grover have been absent?” I asked, crossing my arms and looking around the room. It wasn’t anything special, with the walls painted of a faded red and fades green curtains. It was a small room, and most of the space was taken by the bed where the new kid laid, which made it difficult for Chiron to move around.

Annabeth had gone to fetch one of my siblings. Chiron wanted to move the kid to the infirmary, where the Apollo cabin could keep a close eye on him. I offered to help, but it didn’t came as a surprise when Chiron forbade me from moving from my current spot. The incident was still fresh on his mind...let’s just say that there’s a son of Demeter who developed a new phobia of nurses and it’s my fault.

“Yes. Grover was sent to his school to observe and recruit, but then…”

“Then?” I arched and eyebrow. “He felt a lot of power and called reinforcements? You can tell me the truth, I’m not stupid.”

I tried to hide my bitterness, but of course Chiron saw right through me. It hurt, I felt like I couldn’t be trusted with anything. Chiron had been the closest thing I had to a father, and being left out of a super scary prophecy felt like a stab in the back. This prophecy talked about two children of the Twelve Eldest Gods, although Annabeth and I were pretty certain that all children of the Goddesses were safe, there were still a lot of kids that could be in danger. It could be Luke, or Kyla, Lee or even me. If it were up to me, all demigods would know about this prophecy, there was nothing worse than a sudden unwanted load on someone’s shoulders. If they knew, they could be better prepared.

“I was going to tell you the truth, Alexandria.”

“Right.” sarcasm radiated off every pore. “Just like you were planning on telling me about the prophecy?”

He watched me cautiously.

“How do you know about that?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I wasn’t about to tell him, I didn’t want to get Annabeth in trouble.

“Alexandria…” he sighed.

“Save it.”

Someone cleared their throat behind me, and a moment later Luke was standing next to me, leaning against the other side of the door.

“Grover will be fine. He's resting now.” he spoke, void of emotion.

I knew he still resented Grover for the Thalia incident, but I appreciated his efforts to hide it from me, although it would be better to just try to get over it. I mentioned her once and he completely shut me off. After that, I started to resent Thalia myself. Who had she been, that she still held such power over Luke? Had there been something else between them? I knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of a tree, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn't Luke's first girlfriend, and I didn’t really care about that, but just the thought of this tree girl having such a grip over him bothered me.

I never asked about her again, even to Annabeth; I wasn’t sure I wanted to know about her after that day.

“Good, good.” nodded Chiron.

“You two go back to sleep. I'll look after Percy until someone from Cabin 7 arrives.”

I heard Luke snorting, and my cheeks reddened. Of course they remembered. They weren’t going to let me forget it.

I looked at the new kid, Percy. I didn’t want to leave him; something inside me was telling me to stay by his side, to protect him.

He was important, I just didn’t know how.

There were a lot of things I didn’t understand lately.

Luke took my hand in his and gently tugged, dragging me behind him.

I followed him downstairs and through a short corridor. He reached the last door and yanked it open.

We couldn’t leave the big house so late at night unless we wanted to become arpy food.

He turned on the light and my feet led me to the bed, where I let myself fall ungracefully.

Men, I was tired.

Luke hesitated on the doorway.

“Um…well…I think I’m just gonna…go and…”

I smirked. It was fun to watch him suffer sometimes.

“Will you stay with me?”

His face lit up, and he quickly closed the door behind him and turned off the light.

I got rid of my shoes and got under the covers. Luke followed soon after and placed an arm around me.

I let my head rest on his chest and sighed.

“I've missed this.” he muttered as his hand ran through my hair.

I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face.

“Me too.”

We usually sneaked up to Cabin 3 during the school year, when there was almost no-one at camp, but it was too risky during holiday season and I always slept better with someone next to me.

He buried his face in my hair and inhaled.

“Night, Alex.”

“Night.”

* * *

 

**“U** p and at it!”

A cold splash woke us up the next day.

“Fuck!”

I sat up straight and looked around, completely awake. The sun lit up the room, and in that very moment, I hated it. Why did I have to wake up?

Annabeth had one hand on her hip, and the other held an empty jar.

“That's freezing.” complained Luke next to me, rubbing his eyes.

I shrugged. The water was fine to me.

“You're lucky I’m not Chiron or Mr.D. You could get in serious trouble or worse…kicked out of camp.”

“Noted.”

She rolled her eyes and stormed out.

“Don't be late.”

I looked at Luke, whom didn’t seem to want to move. He was staring back at me, his eyes barely open, the blue in them breathtaking.

“How did you sleep?” I asked, resisting the temptation of laying back down and snuggling with him.

He reached out a hand and grasped a black curl, yanking it softly.

“Great.” he smiled softly, trying not to yawn “You?”

“I would have slept better if someone hadn’t spent the whole night kicking.”

He rolled his eyes.

“I don’t complain about your drooling.”

* * *

 

“ **G** rover!”

I jumped on my friend’s back and held on tightly. He almost lost balance and fell, but I didn’t care; I was delighted to see him up.

“I’m so glad you’re ok!”

I released him from my death grip and he turned, trying to give me a small smile. Annabeth had told me that he was in big trouble with the other satyrs, and I felt bad for not being able to help him.

“Hey, Alex. How’s everything?” he asked, scratching the back of his head.

“Everything’s great. But how are you?”

He looked down.

“I’ve been better.”

I gave him a little pat on the shoulder.

“Hey, smile a little. The new kid will be fine. You’ll be fine.” I tried to reassure him, putting on a very convincing happy voice. At moments like these, I was thankful for my acting lessons.

“He hasn’t woken up.”

“He’ll be up soon, you’ll see. C’mon, they can’t punish you; you brought him in one piece.”

He nodded in a slightly pathetic way, and I decided that maybe distracting him would be a better idea rather than comforting him.

I offered him my arm, and once he took it, we walked away from the infirmary, heading towards my Arts and Crafts lesson.

“Now, tell me. How was that school?”

He moaned and threw his head back.

“It was awful, Alex. Those mortals stink, and there was this girl, Nancy Bobofit, I swear she’s evil incarnated.”

I raised my eyebrows but I allowed him to ramble, just enjoying having one of my best friends back. 

* * *

  
  


**I** was finally making progress in archery class. I still couldn’t hit the bullseye, but I was closer, and it was safe for other campers to practice near me.

Next to me, Hallie Andersen smiled.

“Nice shot, Alex.”

She was one of my sisters, and no big surprise, we didn’t look alike. She was quite petite, with perfectly tanned skin, blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

She was eighteen, and would probably be leaving camp soon, for good. It made me sad whenever a demigod left to never return, but I knew we couldn’t stay here forever.

I wondered what I would do once I left this place. Probably keep on auditioning for musicals, if a monster didn’t make me its dinner before that.

I guess it didn't really matter. I didn't know of a demigod who had made it past their mid-thirties. Maybe I should try to enjoy my life before going out there.

And what better way to do that than making a few changes to my audition repertoire. 

Maybe I could pull off a good number before a monster ate me.

“Why are you smiling like that? It's a bit creepy.”

Luke was giving me a weird look, as if he feared I would pull out a knife out of nowhere and go berserk on everyone; as if he feared I would then bath in the others blood and dance around the corpses.

Maybe I gave his expression too much thought. 

“I was trying to choose a song for when I get eaten alive.” I shrugged, picking up an arrow.

“Ah, I see.” he pretended to think about it “I would want to go with…”

“Fight for your right.” she finished for him, smirking. 

“You know me so well. Nice!”

The arrow almost hit the bullseye.

“What would you go to? Surely it will include some tap dancing.”

I gave him my middle finger, fighting back a smile.

“Fuck you.”

“I’d love to.”

Pretending my face wasn't slightly red, I asked:

“Shouldn't you be somewhere teaching something?”

His smile fell, and he took a step towards me.

“I wanted to see how you were doing. I know you're worrying about the new kid.”

It had been a few days since the kid, Percy, arrived, and he remained unconscious. I went to check up on him everyday, and I bought him some yellow flowers. Maybe they would cheer him up a bit when he woke.

I was also worried about Grover. He was fine, thankfully, but Mr.D was furious, and the other satyrs were threatening to take his license away. I told him to remind them that he had bought  _ me  _ safe, but Grover said I didn’t count ‘cause I got hurt. It really didn’t make sense to me; as far as I knew, most campers arrived in a pretty shitty state, courtesy of the monsters chasing us.

In my opinion, those satyrs asked too much.

“I’m fine, really.” I tried to smile.

He didn’t seem to believe me, and approached me slowly.

“The kid will be just fine, you’ll see.”

I nodded, not telling him I was also worried about Grover. He wouldn’t understand that, he wouldn't really care.

“Yeah, you’re right.” 

 

The next day, Silena sat down next to me under the nice shade of a tree.

“I hate men.” she spat.

I almost choked with the apple, and a thunder broke through the sky.

“What?”

“I hate men.” she repeated with a deep frown, staring ahead as a Demeter kid fell from the climbing wall after being hit on the arm by the lava.

“You feeling ok?” I asked, checking her forehead for a fever.

She slapped my hand away.

“Yeah, yeah, perfect. But I think I’m giving up on love.”

I raised my eyebrows. Now I was concerned. A daughter of Aphrodite giving up on love? What was next? My whole life had been a lie and I was a daughter of Zeus?

“You wanna talk about it?” I asked, taking another bite from the apple.

She turned to me and leaned over a little, using her hands for support.

“I have this friend back home, Lisa, but she’s not as cool as you.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, happy to know I wasn’t being cheated on by my best friend.

“Basically, my dad sent a postcard she gave him for me, where she says: Blah blah, I miss you, blah blah, Sean and I are dating now. Love ya’.”

Sean was Silena’s boyfriend of three months, well, ex-boyfriend.

“Wow. Classy.”

She huffed, crossing her arms.

“I hate them. I’m going to kill someone.”

“Yeah,...maybe that’s not a good idea.”

“Why not? I’d make room for some more decent human beings.”

I stared at her for a few seconds, chewing slowly.

“Just, take a few days to relax; and try not to think about anything related to violence.”

“You do realize where we live?”

“Just try, please.”

She rolled her eyes and didn’t say anything else, but I was sure she would take my advice.

We stayed in silence for a few minutes, just looking around while the other campers made themselves useful.

It was a hot day, and I was about to suggest we go to the lake for a swim when I saw Annabeth heading towards us, with another kid hot behind her heels.

I quickly got up and ran towards them, meeting them halfway. Annabeth was soaking wet from head to toe, and she looked like a cat who had been forced to take a bath. The kid next to her gave me a slightly alarmed look, probably scared of the crazy girl that randomly ran to him. 

He was shorter than Annabeth, with a head full of messy black hair, deep green eyes full of sadness and a baby round face. He was adorable, in a sad way, and all I wanted to do at that moment was hug him and make sure he knew everything would be fine.

But instead of doing all that, I just settled for:

“What happened to you?” I asked my blonde friend.

She glared daggers at the new kid.

“There was an incident in the bathroom. Clarisse wanted to show Percy some hospitality, but he...well...he made us take a shower.”

I raised an eyebrow, looking from one twelve year old to the other. The new kid, Percy, was completely dry.

“Right. Cool, Clarisse probably deserved it.” I gave the new kid a kind smile and reached out my hand.“I’m Alex, it’s nice to finally see you up and about.”

For some reason, when I said that, I felt the need to burst into song. Fortunately, I resisted temptation.

“I’m Percy Jackson.” said the new kid, shaking my hand and looking at Annabeth, as if looking for advice on how to proceed.

“Alex here is a kid of Apollo. She can sing but avoid standing near her during archery class.”

“Hey! I got better.” I tried to defend myself, placing both hand on my hips.

“If you get hurt, go to anyone  _ but  _ her.”

Percy nodded slowly, trying to take it all in.

“You’re making me sound worse than Clarisse.”

“Good intentions only don’t take you anywhere, Alex.”

I just rolled my eyes at her.

“Whatever. You know Luke already?”I asked Percy, who nodded weakly.

“Yeah, I got a spot on the ground.”

I tried not to look at him with pity. The state of the Hermes cabin left a lot to wish, and even though Luke tried to convince Chiron of expanding it several times, the answer was always a sharp ‘No’. It made him mad, but he hid it well. Even when we were alone in the woods, I still looked around nervously as he ranted, almost expecting for Chiron, or worse, one of the Gods, to appear from behind a tree and turn us both into guinea pigs.

“Are you…”I looked up when I heard Percy talk. He cleared his throat. “So, we’re not sharing cabin?”

“No, at least, not for now.”I gave him a little friendly push on the shoulder. “Who knows? Maybe you’re an Apollo kid too.”

We did look a bit alike. We had the same hair and eyes, the same slightly round face, the same soft chin, and even our noses were almost identical. Did he also have a small dot under his right eye?

You have got to be shitting me!

I placed my hands in front of me and intertwined my fingers and at the same time Percy did the same.

Annabeth and I shared a quick look. 

“Maybe.”he muttered, looking around.

I turned, noticing that Silena wasn’t sitting under the tree anymore, and gave my blonde friend a pointed look.

“Annie, why don’t you take Percy to the pegasuses? I’m sure he’ll like them.” I suggested.

Silena must be on the stables by now, and I was hoping that the beautiful winged horses would cheer Percy up a little bit. From what Annabeth had told me the previous day, it seemed like Percy’s mom had died, and I couldn’t even phantom to imagine how bad he must be feeling, how overwhelmed it must be, to lose your only parent and find out you’re half a mythical creature all in the same day.

Annabeth nodded, and completely unaware to Percy’s state (or maybe she was giving him a dose of though love, one was never sure with her) she took him by the hem of the shirt and practically dragged him after her.

Shaking my head, I turned and walked past the strawberry fields and crossed the small river, sighing with relief upon feeling the water up to my knees. Almost immediately, I felt refreshed, I felt like I could fight against Zeus himself.

A lightning struck across the sky.

Walking up the steps, I saw Chiron and Mr.D playing cards.

“Ah, Alexandria.”my former teacher smiled when he saw me, but his smile dropped when he saw my serious expression. He pointed to the empty chair next to him. “Please, sit with us.”

Mr.D barely bothered to give me a look of annoyance before he took a sip of his Diet Coke and checked his cards again.

I carefully took the seat and crossed my forearms across the table.

“So,...I met Percy just now.” I announced.

“Another brat to feed. Yay!” celebrated Mr.D with mockery.

Chiron and I ignored him.

“I see. What did you think of him?”

I leaned over the table, forcing the centaur to make eye contact. His usually warm brown eyes were wary.

“Tell me he’s not my brother.” I simply said.

Chiron looked down at his cards.

“No, don’t do that. Look me in the eyes and tell me he’s not my brother.”

He sighed and did as I asked. His expression was unreadable.

“I believe he is, yes.” he admitted.

I gave him a big grin and leaned back, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Great! He can move to Cabin Seven after dinner.”

“I’m afraid it can’t be.” he contradicted, looking at me softly.

I felt as my grin dropped, and Mr.D’s grew.

“Why not?”

“He needs to be claimed first. That’s the rules.”

“Fuck the rules!”I threw my hands in the air. “For some freaky reason  _ I know  _ that kid’s my brother, and even you’re pretty sure we’re related. Isn’t that enough? You’re seriously gonna make him suffer with all the other unclaimed children? He’s been through enough already, and I know that the Gods have better things to do besides taking care of their offsprings, but really? How hard is it to claim us? Just a snap of fingers and it’ll be done! But no! They can’t be bothered by so insignificant pe…”

“ENOUGH!”

I went silent immediately. Chiron never shouted, not even me, and boy did I test his patience over the past two years.

Swallowing hard, I fought the urge of becoming one with the chair, and I didn’t dare to look at Mr.D, whom was surely about to turn me into some plant.

“Percy will stay in Cabin 11, and you won’t talk about our suspicious to noone. Do you understand, Alexandria?”

Slowly, I nodded, my face red from anger.

Chiron made a small gesture with his hand, and I got up and left with my tail between my legs.

* * *

 

**T** hat night I barely slept, and when I did, I was consumed by darkness, and all I could hear was an even darker voice that sent chills down my spine and made me froze in fear. I sat on my bed staring at the shiny ceiling with a frown, and almost jumped out of my bed when my siblings began to stir and wake up.

We all had breakfast at our table, and for the first time, I was annoyed by how squished we were. I was still angry from my fight with Chiron, and I just wanted to take my trident and punch everybody.

Taking a big gulp of my orange juice, I got up and walked towards the arena, deciding to take out my anger on a dummy and not a real person.

“Alex!”

I quickly turned around upon hearing Percy’s voice, and tried to smile as he approached with hesitant steps.

“Hey, there.”

He stopped in front of me and looked down at his feet.

“I was wondering if I could tag along?” he asked apprehensively.

This time, my smile was genuine.

“Sure, buddy.” I placed an arm around his shoulders. “C’mon.”

I saw Luke staring from the Hermes table, but I gave him a thumbs up and he nodded once before going back to his food.

I ignored Chiron’s stare and guided Percy towards the Arena.

“How was your first night?” I asked, looking down at him.

I wasn’t that much taller than him, but every centimeter counted for me, ok?

He shrugged.

“Fine, I guess. Everybody looks at me funny.”

“Yeah; it’s cause you killed a minotaur.”

“I know, but still, I wish I could just...I don’t know, be invisible for a few days.”

I gave his shoulder a small squeeze.

“I’m sorry about everything that happened.”

“Why? It wasn’t your fault.”

“Well, no, but still. I guess I wish I could help somehow.”

He looked up, his green eyes a little more alight.

“Thanks, Alex. You know? You’re pretty cool.”

I smirked and bumped his hip with mine.

“I know.”

 

* * *

 

**A** few days went by, in which I avoided Chiron like the plague, and the new kid, Percy and I, became almost friends. It had fallen upon Grover and I to cheer him up whenever he failed at some class, meaning we had to cheer him up every couple of hours. He complained about only being good at canoeing, and barely felt any better when I told him I was the exact same when I first arrived. Only time made me better in a few things, and I was sure he would eventually learn.

The morning of friday, the day where we were going to play Catch the Flag, I approached Luke outside the Hermes cabin and asked him to go easy on Percy, but he only gave me a grimace and said:

“The other kids will notice, Alex. It’ll only be worse for him. Besides, he’s not so bad; even managed to disarm me the other day.” I nodded, looking down, feeling as helpless as Percy. He wasn’t living to the rest of the campers expectations, but I couldn’t punch someone every time they made some snickering comment. I knew about that, he had told me about how he managed to disarm Luke in a few seconds, but that was where his luck ended. I felt Luke sigh, and next thing I knew one of his finger lifted my chin. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Smiling, I gave him a small peck on the lips, but Luke had other ideas. His arms surrounded my waist and he pulled me close. My hands went up his muscled arms and wrapped around his shoulders.

“You guys need some snacks? A condom?”

“You’re so gross.”

We quickly separated, just as Silena and Karen came to a stop on the steps of the cabin. My friends had braided their shiny hair, and both were wearing pink and black sports clothes.

Luke rolled his eyes in good nature.

“If you two are done, Alex, we’re supposed to be at the Volleyball court.”

I turned towards Luke one last time, and he gave me a faint smile.

“Go. I’ll help Percy.”

* * *

  
  
  


**T** hat night, we were all more excited than usual, and it wasn’t just thanks to the great food. It was Capture the Flag night, and even though I hadn’t been looking forward to it, I the other campers energy quite contagious.

We heard a conch horn and we stood from the tables. Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silver silk banner with an owl in it. From the other side, Clarisse ran in with two of her siblings, carrying a red banner painted with a spear and a boar’s head.

My siblings and I joined the Athena and Hermes cabin. Percy and Luke found me rather quickly, and from the other side, I waved at Silena and Karen and then made a cutting motion across my throat with a finger, gaining only two unimpressed looks.

Chiron hammered his hoff against the marble floor.

“Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. Not killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm Yourselves!”

He spread his hands, and the tables filled with weapons. 

“Whoa! We’re really supposed to use these?” Asked Percy.

“Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in Cabin Five.”said Luke, to which I gave him a small slap on the arm. He took a helmet and a shield and handed them to Percy. “Here-Chiron thought these would fit. You’ll be on border patrol.”

I took an old shield with a laurel crown carved in it and a helmet with blue horsehair. Gods, I hated these damned helmets, but my love for my head was greater than any negative feeling I may have against the helmet, so I put it on.

“Blue team, forward!”

We followed her south, being taunted by the red team as they headed north.

Percy headed towards Annabeth, leaving me alone with my dashing boyfriend, whom was looking rather smug.

Softly, I elbowed him.

“Overconfidence is going to be your death.” I told him.

He turned his grin towards me and placed an arm around my shoulders. Without thinking, I leaned against his side, enjoying his warmth, and the feeling of security he always offered.

“It’s not overconfidence, I’m just sure of my team’s talents.”

“You mean Athena’s team.”

He placed his sword over his shoulder.

“No difference. I know we’re gonna win.”

“I don’t know.” I said, keeping an eye on Annabeth and Percy, the first looked slightly annoyed, and the latter nervous.”Ares has the numbers.”

“Big numbers don’t mean a thing without brain and skill.”

“No, but it must help a little.”

“Calm down, Alex. It’s just a game.”

I didn’t say anything, stopping near Annabeth. Percy was heading towards the creek, where I hoped he would be safe,

“Luke will lead one of the search parties, and John the other.”said the blonde, briefly pointing to one of her brothers.

I usually went with the search parties, but this time, Annabeth decided that I’d be more useful defending the close perimeter of the banner from the northeast side. Will and Lee would guard it.

We all divided in groups and headed towards our posts. I stood next to an Athena girl and three Hermes kids, while four of my sisters climbed the trees in order to shoot from a high ground. I wasn’t sure where the banner was, but it was no more than half a kilometer round.

I reached for my necklace and pulled, feeling it growing in size on my hand until the trident stood almost as tall as me.

For some reason, the banner was placed in enemy territory, barely, but still in enemy territory. I wasn’t sure it was such a great idea, but Annabeth had said that Clarisse would probably expect us to place it as far south as possible, so she sent a bigger group there and left us here, at the edge of the woods, with the banner hanging high from a branch, but not too high that it would be visible from afar. 

We waited in the dark, letting our eyes adjust, until we heard a conch horn. We yelled and slammed our weapons against our shields a few times. From behind us, some others Hermes kids ran forward, they were the offense.

We all stood very quiet and still, waiting to hear footsteps approaching. I looked around but saw nothing. Men, how I wished to be searching! That was much more fun.

Slow minutes went by in uneasy silence, and boy I was hoping for some Ares kids to stumble upon us. I was building up some frustration, and finally looking forward to burn it out.

Finally, finally, I heard them yelling. I leaned forward, listening to the soft sound of my sisters taking out their arrows and tensing their bows.

A small stick twitched when an Hermes kid changed his weight, and we saw them.

In the blink of an eye, arrows were flying, and I was dodging an attack from an Hephaestus kid. No surprise, he was bigger than me, but I could use it as an advantage. He swung his axe and I raised up my shield, throwing him off to the left. I kicked him in the stomach and quickly spinned, hitting him on the side with the trident. I didn’t waste time, fixing my grip over it, I threw my shield to the ground as I didn’t like using one and took the trident in both hands, placing the right up near the blades.

The Hephaestus kid got up and ran towards me, but I easily dodged and turned, sensing someone else.

A girl from Ares with a sword swung, aiming for my stomach, and I barely avoided her by jumping back. She swung again, but I stopped her with the handle of the trident and stepped back, pushing forward with my weapon as if it were an extension of my arm, but the girl dove to the side. We circled each other, watching every move the other made, and then I attacked, seeking to get rid of her weapon. She dodged and went for my neck, but I held her off, trying not to lose balance. I wasn’t standing right and I was going to fall on my ass, so I moved to the side and she fell. I gave her a little kick that had her eating mud and stepped on her wrist.

She screamed, but I made sure not to hurt her as I took her sword and threw it away from her.

I ducked just as an arrow flew past me and ended up hitting a tree. Another Ares kid, this one had a crossbow. 

I didn’t have to do anything, as an arrow flew past his hand, barely scratching it, but causing enough to make him drop the weapon.

“Thanks!”I called out, not sure which of my sisters had done it.

Just then, I heard Luke, as he and his group ran past me with a red piece of fabric in hands.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Behind the group came another one, quite big and angry. I ran after Luke, my companions doing the same, and we formed an improvised barrier between the red flag and the other team.

Ahead of me, Luke was laughing like it was the best day of his life. I had almost forgotten the thrill of this chase, when the banner is in your possession and the other team knows it. They could catch up to us at any moment.

Luckily for us, the border was near, and in just a moment we were crossing the creek. Water splashed around us, and I felt renovated as I raced forwards, running ahead of the others, even past Luke, whom I was supposed to guard. I saw one of the Ares kids getting up and aiming his spear at Percy, whom was too busy looking at us. I flexed my arm and threw the trident. It caught in the fabric of the Ares’s kid shoulder, and nailed him against a tree.

I slowly stopped running and joined in the cheering, seeing how the banner changed from the ugly red to silver, and a caduceus replaced the boar and spear.

Chiron rode from the woods and blew the horn.

Luke shared a few high fives and claps in the back with the other campers, while I watched him amused. He saw me standing there and grinned, giving me a quick wink.

Smiling softly, I walked towards the Ares kid and released him with a pull from my weapon. He gave me a dirty look.

“This was my favorite t-shirt.”he said.

The t-shirt had a offensive inscription and big stain of ketchup, or at least, I hoped it was ketchup.

“I’d say I did you a favor.”

He bumped his shoulder against mine and walked past my team.

Playfully swinging my trident, I strolled towards Annabeth and Percy.

“I didn’t want...I assumed Zeus…”

“Zeus what?” I asked, stopping next to blondie.

She jumped, taken by surprise, and turned to me, giving me a calculating look.

“Alex, how did you manage to throw the trident like that?”

I frowned, still playing with my weapon.

“Like what?”

“You were like, almost a hundred meters from that kid, and sorry, but you don’t have that kind of muscle.”

I shrugged.

“Adrenaline rush.”

“Can you do it again?”

“Don’t think so. I’m kinda tired.”

Percy gave me an understanding look.

“Both of you, get in the water.”ordered Annabeth.

We just stared at her, and then we heard it; a howl.

The cheers stopped abruptly, and Annabeth, Percy and I quickly searched for the creature.

“Stand ready! My bow!”screamed Chiron, somewhere behind us.

I readied my trident and Annabeth drew her sword.

On the rocks above us there was a hideous creature, one I expected to never encounter again. 

A.Fucking.Hellhound.

Its red eyes were trained on Percy, and the thing was showing him his fangs.

_ How in the Hades did that thing get in here? _

The hellhound took a step towards Percy, and I tensed.

_ Over my dead body, Fido. _

“Percy, run!”yelled Annabeth.

The blonde tried to leap in front of him, but the hound was faster. It leaped over her and fell towards Percy. I threw my trident at the beast, and it fell over Percy, dead, with my trident and several arrows on its neck.

I practically jumped to Percy’s side and kneeled next to him. 

“You ok?” I asked frantically, just as the beast turned to dust.

I took my trident before it could fall over the kid’s legs and helped him to stand up.

“I’m alive?”he asked, not believing it.

Feeling the tears on my eyes, I hugged him. I didn’t really get why I was so scared for him, and he probably didn’t get it either, if the awkward pat I got on the middle of my back was anything to go by.

Chiron trotted next to us and offered a hand to Annabeth, helping her stand.

“ _ Di Immortales! _ That’s a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don’t...they’re not supposed to…”

“Someone summoned it.”Chiron said.”Someone inside the camp.”

Luke rushed over to us and took me by  the shoulders, looking me up and down.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he asked, checking me over and over.

“Y-yeah, I’m perfect.”

“It’s all Percy’s fault! Percy summoned it!

I glared at Clarisse.

“Be quiet, child.”Chiron said.

“You’re wounded.”Annabeth said to Percy.”Quick, get in the water.”

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. Chiron, watch this.”

Percy stepped back and into the creek while everyone gathered around us.

Something began to shine above his head, and I looked, gasping along with the others upon seeing the shiny green Trident floating.

Percy looked up and jumped a little. His eyes searched for mine, and I saw how they widened as he pointed at me.

“Alex.” his voice was a mere scared whisper.

Suddenly, I was cold, and it took me a moment to notice it was because Luke wasn’t by my side anymore. He was staring at something above my head, just like Percy, just like all the others.

Swallowing the growing lump in my throat, I looked up, seeing how a green trident floated over my head for a few seconds before vanishing.

“It is determined.”announced Chiron.

I looked to him, but he was making an effort of avoiding my gaze.

“Poseidon. Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson and Alexandria Agapov, children of the Sea God.”

My terrified gaze found Annabeth’s.

_ I’m so screwed. _

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nop, I haven’t abandoned this story, I know what I want to happen and how but for some reason I couldn’t put it into words.
> 
> I think I’m finally getting out of this writer’s block, and we should thank to all the people who worked on the ‘Lighting Thief Broadway Musical’, ‘cause listening to the cast recording helped me with most of the chapter!
> 
> Regarding Alex’s dads. Yes, it is Poseidon, not Apollo. She’s gonna meet Poseidon near the end of LT and he’ll explain his reasons.
> 
> You know who else she’s gonna meet near the end of LT??? Hades!!!! I can’t wait for that moment!!
> 
> So...next chapter, Percy is given his first mission and he’s taking his sister with him!
> 
> BTW, don’t you think Alex is maybe a little too good of a singer? She barely had a few months of lessons before Lee began to take her to auditions and stuff. I know some people are prodigies, but still, don’t you find it just a tiny bit weird? *wink* *wink*
> 
> ‘Till next time, my dear demigods! Please don’t kill me! I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark!!
> 
> ...That last bit hurt me.


	8. VII: A Hot Guy Tires To Choke Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very important question awaits you at the end of the chapter! Really, if you don’t answer, then I’ll have to make the decision on my own and LORD that could take ages.

**VII: A Hot Guy Tries To Choke Me**

  
  
  


**June**

  
  


Packing my things to take them to my new cabin was awkward, to say the least. My siblings were all silent, and there was not a single instrument being played. Lee helped me a bit, but I could see how puzzled he felt; his movements were slow, and he looked as if he didn’t completely understand what he was doing.

Sitting on my bed, Will sniffed as silently as he could. I kneeled down next to him and smiled, hoping he found the gesture reassuring.

“Hey, pumpkin, chin up.”I told him, running my thumbs through his cheeks, getting the tears off his face “We’re still gonna see each other everyday. And you’re still going to help me prepare that song, right?”

He let out a small hiccup.

“B-B-but who will stay up with me when I have nightmares?”

I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. I knew Lee could try, or any other kid in this cabin. Not all of us were as close as Lee, Will and I, but we knew we could always count on each other. The thing was that for some reason, Will would only calm down if I stayed up with him, or if he slept with me. The next time he had a nightmare I wouldn’t know, and he couldn’t risk coming to cabin 3 after curfew, unless he didn’t mind being the dessert of the harpies.

Damn, now I was about to cry.

“You’re gonna have to be a big boy now.”I told him, trying to keep the smile on my face and the tears away “I know how brave you can be.”

“But the monsters…”

“You’ll have to kick their asses for me, ok?” I kissed his forehead, closing my eyes and taking on the sweet smell of his hair “I’ll find you in the morning.”

Slowly, he nodded, and I got up, taking my backpack with some of my stuff and a box Chiron had given me. I didn’t have a lot, besides some clothes and music sheets. When I ran from home, I only took some money to pay for the bus and some clothes; those didn’t fit me anymore, and Annabeth was more than happy to accept some of it. All my new clothes I had bought with what little I got paid when I got a role, or when Silena and Karen pretended to buy something in the wrong size.

Lee held the other box in his arms; he was avoiding my gaze.

I turned to my siblings...I turned to the others Apollo kids.

“We’re gonna miss your snores, Alex” said Michael, waving at me from his bed.

Some of my...of the other kids nodded, and others voiced a small farewell and wished me a good night.

Lee decided to walk me to my new cabin with the excuse of helping me with my luggage, even though I was perfectly capable of handling it on my own. I said nothing, letting him walk beside me.

The other campers were in their respective cabins, curfew was almost here.

I just knew that the next day Karen and Silena were going to ambush me with questions.

We stopped at the door of cabin 3 and I stopped. I could tell Lee wanted to say something; it was obvious by the way he opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

Finally, he dared to look me in the eyes.

“You know, despite all of this,” he began, making gestures with his hands for emphasis “You’re still my sister, Alex. All of us are still your family.”

I wanted to hug him, I really did, but I didn’t, too busy looking into his blue orbs. Those must be his father’s eyes, since every other kid in cabin 7 had the same colour. Why couldn’t I? Why couldn’t Percy? Why did Apollo claimed me when I wasn’t his child?

A small part of me wondered if it was the other way around; if Apollo was my father, but was too embarrassed of me, and that’s why now Poseidon claimed me.

I guess it shouldn’t really matter. The Gods were still a great pile of glorious shit, playing around with us, but I couldn’t help but wonder who my real father was. It was a legit question, maybe most kids had that question at one point in their life.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.” I said instead, to which Lee nodded slowly, slightly disappointed “Can I have the box?”

He passed me the box with my winter clothes, carefully placing it on top of the one I was already carrying. I turned around and climbed the steps, wishing Lee a goodnight while I opened the door with my foot.

Percy was already inside, and he seemed lost in thought, for he didn’t even blink when I almost fell over. I placed the boxes on the floor, deciding I would rearrange everything in the morning, and placed my backpack at the feet of the bed.

I wanted to sit and sulk, and be consumed by my own angst, but seeing Percy already in that state made me stop. I sat next to him.

“Hey. Smile a little. You just got yourself the best roommate in camp.” I tried to cheer him up.

He tried to smile, but came off as a weird imitation of a snake biting down.

“You got everything from 11?” I asked him.

“Uh? Oh, yeah. Luke brought my stuff...he also asked about you, but I told him you weren’t here...he seemed worried.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll talk with him tomorrow.”

He hesitated for a moment before asking:

“Are you two,...you know? Dating?”

“Yeah, since last october. We haven’t killed each other yet.”

Percy’s shoulder shook for a second, almost like a huff rather than a laugh, but I would take whatever I could get.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder slowly, hoping he wouldn’t feel alarmed. I was one for physical contact, and he looked like he needed come comfort.

Luckily, he accepted my embrace, and leaned in until his head rested on my shoulder.

“Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I just,...I really miss my mom.”

His shoulder shook as he started to sob, and I wrapped my other arm around him. I didn’t know what to do, or what to say to make him feel better, so I just held him while he cried.

At some point, we both fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

**_I_ ** _ n my dream, I was inside an impressive, but creepy as shit hall.  _

_ The ceiling was incredibly tall, and I almost couldn’t make out where the roof was. It was dark, even with the many torches around me, and the way the shadows danced across the room was unnerving. _

_ Who could live in a place like this? I wouldn’t dare to go to the kitchen for a midnight snack, for fear of being attacked by one of those demons on the horror movies I sometimes watched as a kid. _

_ The Exorsist fucked me up. _

_ The walls,  made of some strange, irregular stone, held some red tapestry, and on each side there were heads. Not humans, but that of monsters. I wondered if they were real. _

_ “They are.” _

_ I jumped and screamed, not expecting company. I prayed it wasn’t one of the demons from t.v. _

_ When I turned, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a demon, that was for sure, but I could tell he wasn’t human either.  _

_ In front of me there was a young man. He couldn’t be more than twenty something, and he was tall, really tall. His curly black hair fell to his chin in a disheveled, I just got out of bed kind of way. He was very pale, something that I didn’t think was accentuated just by his clothes. He wore a black robe that looked softer to the touch than silk. _

_ We locked eyes and I swallowed hard at their darkness. Without thinking about it, I took a step in his direction. _

_ He was absolutely divine, and I just wanted to be closer to him. _

_ His cold eyes gave me a quick glance-over, stopping again at my face. _

_ “I-I’m sorry?” _

_ “The heads behind you. They are from real monstres.” he answered simply, taking slow steps in my direction. Each step sounded like a -boom- and quickly got lost on the big space of the hall. _

_ We both turned to look at them, and for a second I noticed the large dining table full of food. I saw that there was only one chair at the head of the table, and didn’t understand how he could eat so much on his own. All that could feed all the campers for a day. _

_ “Won’t they regenerate?” _

_ He shook his head once. _

_ “No. They have been turned into stone by a...provider of trust.” _

_ “Uh, cool, I guess.” _

_ He was staring at me, his eyes burning a hole into the side of my face, but I kept my eyes on the creepy monster head. _

_ “So, I gather your true identity has been revealed.” he said, as if talking about the weather. _

_ “What?” _

_ I was really feeling like an idiot. _

_ “It must be because that idiot father of yours is plotting something.” _

_ “How could I know?” _

_ Suddenly, his hand wrapped around my neck and he pressed, with enough strength to scare me, but loose enough so I could still breathe. _

_ “Do not play dumb, Alexandria. You were there. You stole it for him, didn’t you?” _

_ What in the name of Tartarus was this hot lunatic talking about? _

_ “I didn’t steal anything! I don’t know what you’re talking about, I swear!” _

_ He watched my face for a few seconds. _

_ “You speak truth.” was his brilliant, cold conclusion, before letting me go “Forgive me, Alexandria.” _

_ My hand reached for my neck as I gave him a weary look. That freaked me out a bit, but I didn’t dare to give him a piece of my mind, fearing that I’d be turned into dust. _

_ “Sure, just remember: don’t get kincky on the first date.” _

_ I thought I saw him smile for a moment, but it was gone before I could be sure. _

_ “You have an interesting journey ahead of you, Syren.” he said instead, placing both hands behind his back “I’m sure we will meet again soon.” _

* * *

 

**T** he next day, I choose our new schedule with Percy’s help. Since I had been at camp for longer than he had, I was the cabin captain, but I didn’t want him to feel left out, so I asked for his opinion while Chiron watched from his chair.

I tried not to talk to the centaur, and I think he noticed what I was doing, but said nothing about it. He knew all this time, I was sure of it. He knew Percy was powerful, and he knew he was my brother.

Everybody began to avoid us. Karen and Silena tried to act like everything was normal and glared daggers at whoever dared to utter something about my new brother and I. I was thankful for them, and for being wrong, since they didn’t ask me any questions.

My lessons with Lee and Will continued, bu they could tell I was distracted. 

Lee said something about a callback soon, and I vaguely answered him that I would go, even though I didn’t listen when he said what songs I should prepare.

I appreciated Luke’s comfort, but not the way he trained me. Since the kids from cabin 11 now feared us, Percy and I had lessons with him in private.

One would think, because I was his girlfriend, he’d go easy on me, but boy was I wrong.

One day, as I walked into the forest while massaging my arm, he followed me with an innocent smile on his face.

“C’mon, Alex. It’s for your own good. I want you to be safe.”

“Really? It seemed to me you wanted me to go visit Hades.” I grumbled.

I heard him laughing behind me, and before I could escape, I was in his arms. He kissed a sensitive spot behind my ear, and I tried not to smile like an idiot.

“Sorry.” 

I elbowed him, resuming my walk.

“It’ll take more than that to earn forgiveness, Luke Castellan.”

He followed me into the forest.

“Are you alright?” he asked, taking my hand.

I gave him a sideways glance.

“Peachy. You ask me everyday.”

“Yes, because I worry about you.”

I shrugged.

“I know, but, what do you want me to say?”

“I want the truth, Alex. I know you’re not fine.”

My thumb ran across his knuckles while I watched my step. My converse needed a good wash.

“I’m going a day at a time. My biggest concern is Percy.” I told him, and then let out a heavy sigh. “I can’t really do nothing else, can I? But wait until the next god decides to play with us.”

Luke stayed silent for a few minutes, until we arrived at Zeus’s fist.

“You will. Soon enough, I promise.”

I gave him a look, wondering what in the Hades he was talking about, but decided that it was best if I didn’t ask.

We just sat there, looking up at the sky, with my head resting on his shoulder, and his arms protecting me from the breeze. We enjoyed each other’s company and the peace.

A peace I didn’t know was about to lose.

* * *

  
  


**T** hat night I stayed outside for a bit with Karen and Silena, and when I got back, Percy was already asleep, clutching a newspaper to his chest.

“Lights out.” I said, and quickly got inside the sheets.

That night I sleep peacefully, so much, that I found it quite unnerving. There were no terrifying voices or hot guys, or horses made of water. Maybe I was given a break, one that I considered was well deserved.

Percy and I woke up to the sound of thunder...wait, what?

I got out of bed, barely avoiding falling face-first to the ground, and yanked the door open. I felt Percy standing behind me as I looked up to the grey sky. The clouds weren’t going around camp as they usually did, and the other kids seem as uneasy as I felt.

“Should we be worried?” asked my brother.

“Well, Zeus’s never came down  here do kill demigods but, there’s a first time for everything.” I said without thinking.

I saw him clenching his jaw, swallowing hard, and wished to punch myself.

Instead, I put an arm around him.

“Hey, it’s ok. Don’t listen to me.” I told him, trying to sound reassuring “I’m sure it has nothing to do with us.”

We turned in time to see Grover climbing up the stairs. He seemed worried.

“Mr.D wants to see you.” he said, looking at my brother.

“Why?”

“He wants to kill...I mean, I better let him tell you.”

Percy gave me a look.

“What were you saying?”he asked, his tone sarcastic.

“Don’t be scared. Mr.D wants to kill almost all of us.”

“That’s reassuring.” muttered Percy, following Grover.

I looked up to the skies once more. They were so dark, giving me the impression that at any moment a angry army would descend upon us.

Did this have anything to do with Percy? The poor child had been attacked by a fury, chased by a minotaur, and now a hellhound made it through the barrier. Either it was all a big, misfortunate coincidence; or he was in some deep shit.

I once heard Luke say that the children of the Big Three tended to have shorter and far more complicated lives than the other demigods. He had also said that maybe, since Thalia had been born the product of a broken vow, had had an even worse luck than the average.

If that were true, if the vow Poseidon broke was what made Percy’s life so miserable, then how much worse could it get?

I didn’t really took myself into consideration. For all I knew, I could still be a daughter of Apollo. Or maybe the Gods were trolling me, and I was a child of Hephaestus, or even Demeter maybe. Perhaps I wasn’t even a demigod, but someone who had made them angry on some past live.

Who knew. The people with the real answers wouldn’t respond to my questions or were simply out of reach.

With a heavy sigh, an eye on the ground and the other in the sky, I headed towards my singing lesson with Lee and Will.

 

* * *

 

**“N** o way!”I crossed my arms and frowned so deeply, I was sure I was looking like an idiot. “I’m not going on some suicide quest to help Zeus, and you’re not going either”.

Percy rolled his eyes.

“I have to. The oracle said so.”

I stood up. Suddenly, I felt a raging fire inside me. I barely knew Percy, but the little bundle of sweetness and sassines was my brother and he was NOT going to risk his life over a petty feud between the gods.

“Where’s the Oracle? Let me talk to the thing, give it a piece of my mind.”

Annabeth stood in front of me, arms crossed and a determined look on her face.

“Alex, sit.”

“I’m not a dog.”

I sat anyway. Anyone knew that getting on blondie’s bad side wasn’t a great idea.

“Look,”began my brother, leaning over the table. Chiron was watching us silently from a meter away; not that I wanted him to say something, or that he would actually answer directly to anything I asked “Grover has to come to get his horns, and Chiron says Annabeth must come too.”he hesitated a moment and shared a fleeting look with my former latin teacher. He seemed to force the next words out: “The Oracle mentioned you, or at least I think she was talking about you.”

I raised an eyebrow, avoiding Annabeth’s silver gaze. I remembered that day on the strawberry fields, when she mentioned the prophecy. Could it be this? Should I start thinking about my last meal?

“Even if I agree to go, which I haven’t done; I couldn’t.” I said triumphantly, crossing my arms “We would be four, and only three people can go on the same quest.”

“That is correct.”spoke Chiron, moving slowly towards us. I still refused to look at him “But this is a,...uh, a very special occasion, and we must break tradition for once.”

“How liberal of you.”

_ GODS DAMNIT! I promised not to talk to him. _

“Alexandria…”he gave me a tired look “There is no doubt Percy must go west. He’ll have to leave today with or without you.”

I looked at my friend Grover, changing his weight from one hoof to the other, biting his nails as he stared at me. Annabeth was trying to look confident, but I could see that she doubted my decision. Percy was practically begging me with those big eyes of him.

All three of them were looking, to me at least, like abandoned puppies.

I fucking hated them.

“Where exactly are we going?”I asked slowly, feigning disinterest.

Lee was going to kill me. I had just gotten a callback for a small, almost decent production of Into the Woods.

“West.”Pearcy breathed, giving me a small smile. Damn kid, why did you have to be so adorable? “To Los Angeles.”

“Should’ve said that sooner!”I returned his smile “We can go see the Walk of Fame, stand outside celebrities houses ‘till someone calls the cops…”

“You’re not going on vacation, Alexandria” reprimanded Chiron softly “You go to the Underworld and back. No deviations.”

“The Underworld?”

Why didn’t they say that earlier? New plan: take Grover, Annabeth and Percy and lock them up on the cabin were they would be safe.

“Hades has the bolt.”

“We _ believe _ Hades  _ might _ have it.”corrected Annabeth, giving my brother a sideways glare.

“Why do you suspect him?”

Percy shrugged.

“If a war starts, he’ll have the most to win.”

I thought about it. Well, yes, a lot of people would die, and traffic on the Underworld would go crazy, and the economy could go up too, if the dead happened to carry dracmas around.

Still, it bugged me that they were so quick to point their undeveloped fingers at Hades.

“You know, overpopulation doesn’t equal power.” I informed them, stretching like a cat on my chair.

“No.”Annabeth agreed carefully “But is the best guess, given everything we know.”

I still didn’t like that we were blaming him, and I liked less not knowing why I didn’t like it, but I suppose that wherever Percy went, I would follow to make sure he didn’t get himself killed.

“Fine, I’ll start packing.”I said, standing up with a small jump. I looked at my three companions “By the way, I’m doing this for you, not the Gods.”

A thunder rumbled across the sky.

“Thanks!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> N: So, important question first: Now that you know that Alex will go along with Percy on his quest, and assuming that you know how it goes in the books: do you want to read it ALL like in the book? I have three options for you…
> 
> 1-We follow the quest one chapter at a time, just like Uncle Rick describes it.
> 
> 2-We go through it quickly, only showing the important scenes of Alex bonding with her brother and being the annoying sister of the group.
> 
> 3-We can skip all the way to L.A if you want.
> 
> The real journey for Alex will begin after LT, during the most part of the quest, things will stay the same, beacuse I want to stay as loyal to the books as I can, but I don’t think you will like me re-writing or transcribing parts of the original book only to have Alex adding something new here and there.
> 
> If you want to, I’ll do it, but trust me, not much will change, and the conclusion will be the same.
> 
> Besides, don’t you want her to meet Hades? You’re here for him, right? At least, I think some of you are.
> 
> If you choose option 3, don’t worry, I can always write a one or two-shot at any time, showing how Alex and Percy got along.
> 
> The main issue here is that I want you to understand Alex’s love for Grover, Annabeth and Percy, especially Percy, even though they just met a few days ago. I don’t want to reveal much, but Percy will take a big part in shaping Alex’s decisions from now on, and it will affect her relationship with pretty much everyone.
> 
> Changing the subject, I did a small change to the prophecy Percy is given before the quest, hehehe. You’ll find out about it... eventually…
> 
> I’m sorry about the super long note, but it’s an important decision and I would appreciate the help. After all, I’m writing this for you :)
> 
> Sorry for any sort of mistakes, please remember that english isn’t my native language and I’m an idiot.
> 
> I hope you’re all having a nice day!

**Author's Note:**

> I shouldn't be starting another story, but I'm too stupid to listen to my brain.
> 
> This story is a Luke/oc, and I'm seriously considering turning it into a Hades/oc eventually.
> 
> I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes, english isn't my first language. If anyone could recommend a beta, I would be forever thankful.
> 
> Have a nice day :)


End file.
